A Pleasant Vacation
by FreakyElla
Summary: She left England over the holidays to have some alone-time. But on the shores of Puerto Rico Hermione isn't as alone as she might think...
1. Puerto Rico

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything only my twisted plot ;)**

**A/N: Okay.. So this is my first fanfic ever. So bear with me okay? It may be some mistakes along the road but am trying really hard and I have a wonderful beta, vicxie22, and we will try our best to correct them. **

**Okay I'm quite nervous actually, but how wrong can a Dramione story get? ;P **

Hermione was totally beat when she dumped her bags in her hotel room. She had never really been a huge fan of travelling with portkey, they always made her feel out of sorts and awfully tired. But she couldn't make herself go to bed just yet, the night was still young and she needed a drink. Hermione unpacked her luggage with a flick of her wand, oh how she loved magic, and headed for the bathroom to freshen up. First on her list was a hot shower for her aching muscles. A long, foamy shower, yes, that was precisely what she needed, and her toothbrush. Where the heck did she put her toothbrush? After five minutes of searching and undoing the order she'd just made she found it.

Heading back to the bathroom Hermione turned the shower on and raised the temperature to almost scalding. She put on a dot of toothpaste and shoved the toothbrush in her mouth. Whilst lazily brushing her teeth she pulled of her shirt and jeans and jumped in the shower. With the warm water steadily pattering on her back and shoulders she immediately felt more relaxed. She continued to brush her teeth thoroughly, she was after all a child to two dentists, until they felt sparkling clean and put aside the toothbrush to continue her head-to-toe wash. This time it was the loofah that spread the foam around her and she stood there for about twenty minutes before she jumped out of the shower and twisted herself in one of the hotels big towels. She stood in front of the huge mirror and wiped some steam of it so that she could look properly at herself. Big, dark-honey coloured eyes stared back at her, neatly placed in her heart-shaped face that was framed by her slightly damp, massive mocha-curls. She made a face to her reflection before she went out to inspect the rest of her hotel room.

ooooo

Hermione slowly walked down the few stairs that would lead her to the bar. She had put on a plain black dress with spaghetti straps that hugged her body in all the right places and ended just below mid thigh. Not because she wanted to show anybody something, but because she felt like it and because it was hot as hell! Her watch showed eight past ten in the evening and it was still about 26 degrees out, but then again she had after all ignored old slushy, rainy England and decided to take a long trip over Christmas to Puerto Rico, so she had only herself to blame.

She slid onto a bar chair with a bit of difficulty before ordering a scotch from the bartender. Her gaze steadily fixated on the golden-brown liquor as it was poured into her glass.

"Are you okay, Miss?" The bartender asked with genuine concern for the young lady sitting before him as he shoved the glass closer to her.

Hermione looked up into his dark blue eyes and swept the scotch in one sweep. He was middle-aged and kind looking and maybe she needed just to empty her overworking brain but she decided to tell him the truth.

"Yes and no." The bartender looked confused but didn't push and let her continue in her own pace. "I've chosen this yet I feel completely lost..." He poured her another drink and she took it happily.

"Why don't you start from the beginning, and maybe it will help you sort out those thoughts of yours Miss..."

"Granger. Hermione Granger." Hermione filled in. "And that's a very good advice Mr.." Now it was her turn to leave the end open for him to offer his name.

"Bill, only Bill please."

"Only if you call me Hermione. Only my enemies call me Granger..."

"Why would a pretty girl like you have enemies?" Bill asked looking puzzled.

"It's a long story" She sighed and drowned her second drink.

"Well, we have all night Hermione" Bill said in a sober tone and poured her yet another drink.

"I suppose so Bill" Hermione said tiredly, drowning her third scotch and started telling her story.


	2. Ghost's Of the Past

**A/N: Well look what we have here. A new chapter up and running before Christmas, and hopefully I will be able to upload chapter 3 before as well. Cross your fingers. Thanks again vicxie22 for being a wonderful beta!**

**Ghost's Of the Past**

" Where do I even begin?" Hermione asked Bill tiredly.

" Why don't you start with telling me what brought you here" Bill said gesturing at the hotel bar with his arm.

Once again Hermione studied him trying to decide how much she could tell Bill, a man she had barely known for fifteen minutes. What the heck, he seemed like an okay bloke that would listen to what she had to say and give his opinion about it – whiteout charge (if you don't count the drinks she would need to pay later that night…)! It would probably be helpful to hear an outsiders view of the whole situation, her always so logical brain concluded. "I were dating this really nice guy…" she tailed off thinking about her past and sipped on her newly refilled glass of scotch feeling it slightly numb her body and buzz her brain a little.

"Ah there is always a lad messing up a pretty girls story. Now tell me, who was he and what happened that makes you to referring at him in past tense?"

"I have known him since I were eleven years old and I have always loved him as a brother. But later, the past five years, we have been seeing each other… Boyfriend – girlfriend seeing each other"

Bill chuckled "Yes, I understood that, please continue."

"Yeah, well err… The thing is, I thought I loved him, I really did. And maybe I did for a short period of time, but then all that was left were friendship, at least for me."

"I see, I see. There was no spark, no passion, am I right?"

"YES!" Hermione exclaimed loudly and threw her hands up in the air as to emphasise that he had indeed guessed right. Maybe she had had a little too much to drink to fast, she thought as she lowered her hands again. But that thought was soon followed by another that said 'who cares? I'm on vacation!'. "That's exactly what happened" she explained to Bill. "I felt trapped. There was no fire, nothing new and surprising, just the same old, same old, and it felt like the walls were closing in, you know?" she finished her drink once again.

"But this young man didn't feel the same?" asked Bill while filling her glass with scotch.

Hermione snorted "Obviously not. But the hardest part with it was not him, it was all our friends and family. They all think I am a horrible person for breaking his heart, well almost everyone. But if I'd stayed in that relationship it would've been me who had been broken, caught in something that I couldn't get out of."

Bill only nodded, both as a sign of understanding and as a sign for her to continue.

"So now it's always awkward when I come to visit them, because they are still my friends you know, and I am sick of that uncomfortable silence. I don't know how to act around them anymore. I try to behave like nothing happened, that we're all just friends. I try to joke and be kind and ask how their day was, but I always get nervous laughter or short comments back. It's nerve-racking!"

"I can understand that. Do you want another one?" he asked indicating that her glass was empty again.

"Yes, thank you. So when they invited me over for Christmas I declined. I couldn't bear the awkwardness. Imagine a whole day with faking smiles and everyone wishing you weren't there. No thank you! So I took out some vacation days thinking I better explore the Caribbean while am still young, and here I am. In a bar in Puerto Rico drinking I don't know how many scotches."

"Well then, I can certainly see why you are here and not home in England, and you have had five scotches, but what did you say about enemies?"

"Oh that." Even though those five drinks had clouded her judgment somewhat she still didn't felt secure enough to tell him all about it. Some things are better left hidden, for her own security's sake. "You know, old rivalries." After the war she had testified against a number of death eaters, and it was because of her testimonies that they were sentenced to Azkaban. After that, a number of threats had poured down through her chimney and mailbox and hadn't stopped since, five years later, and they were all addressed to 'Granger'. That was enough to scare a 22 year old girl, that's for sure, even if she fought in the war and had been through a number of serious events. And ever since Ron had moved out of their apartment, she had been feeling more scared than ever. Not that she'd ever admit it to anyone, and she was certainly not going to tell Bill that, luckily for her, her story wasn't so well known outside England

"Ah I see, past conflicts is nasty business, but you know what? I am now going to make you feel better and forget all about the past, because that's what this little vacation of yours is all about, isn't it? So off you go and dance those depressing thoughts out of your head and when you come back I will have a drink ready for you. A drink worthy of representing the Caribbean influences and not another depressing scotch. So up and show them how to move those hips and bring out the fire!"

Hermione laughed at Bills enthusiastic speech and did as he said, because somewhere between hips and exotic drinks he had a point. So she slid of the chair, gave Bill a big smile, and started making her way to the dancing crowd in the tropical heat.


	3. Exotic Drinks

**Exotic Drinks**

Hermione woke the next morning with a hideous headache. The sunlight that peeked through the large, curtain-draped windows stung her eyes and she lazily pulled the sheet over her head.

She groaned. It felt like her head was going to explode!

She pulled the sheet back an inch, just enough for her to cast a glance at the clock. Hermione expressed another groan. It was quarter past twelve. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. She was usually a morning person, now her whole day-rhythm was going to be remodelled. Well she wasn't planning on staying her whole semester tucked up in her room even if it was absolutely gorgeous.

The hotel room was painted in a light beige colour while the curtains, furniture and cushions were in a richer, golden brown. The bed was large and was placed a few, maybe three, meters in from the door, which had been very convenient when she had stumbled home last night, completely wasted. The bed, in which she now lay, was also going in the theme of golden brown but this time with a touch of red-terracotta colours. There were at least five, fluffy pillows all leaning on the wall, placed at the head of the bed. The cover on the other hand was only a satin sheet –in the same colour of course, because even the thin sheet was warm in this heat.

On the right side of the bed was a balcony with the most wonderful view of the pristine, turquoise ocean. Out there were also a small table with matching little chairs which she was planning to use as breakfast corner when her head wasn't cursing the lights out of its existence.

Left of the entrance was the closet placed and further left was the bathroom. A group of couches and a coffee table in mahogany were placed in the remaining corner. There was also a bar.

Hermione smiled at the thought even though the effort made her head throb even harder. She had her own bar, she had always wanted her own bar. Someway she had always been fascinated by the art of drink mixing, but she usually wasn't a heavy drinker, which brought her back to her problems at the moment. She really needed a potion for that.

She sat up, pulled the sheet of her still fully dressed body and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The sudden movement made her grimace and squint her eyes. Slowly she reached out and grabbed a quill and an Internal message parchment from the nightstand and wrote her request of some hangover-potion and a continental breakfast. As soon as she had finished writing her request for room service the parchment folded itself into a paper plane and flew under the door and down to the reception.

She didn't move from the bed until she heard a knock on the door. "Come in" she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Luckily the witch heard it and opened the door while levitating a tray covered in food and two small vials of potion.

"Put it on the nightstand, please." She told the short, Latino witch who did as Hermione requested.

"Is there anything else miss?"

"No thank you, I'm fine"

The witch gave her a questioning glance before she nodded, leaving Hermione alone again.

ooooo

It was now three in the afternoon and Hermione sat in one of the many sun beds spread across the wide beach. Above her chair was a bright-blue parasol that shaded her head from the sun, not that she needed it because of her big- no- huge sunhat Ginny had gotten her as a Christmas/going-away present. So even though she barely could see a thing in the bloody hat she had to admit that it was kind of nice. It was a white straw hat and with a beige bow and she felt obligated to wear it, because it was after all Christmas Eve. Oh, wasn't that a depressing thought?

She swiftly waved a towel boy in her direction (where the hell had all the waiters gone?) and ordered a drink that she and Bill had talked about yesterday, Caribbean Sunset. She was pretty damn smug that she could remember it after all the drinks she had had. I contained some strong liquor and lots of fruit, including strawberries, dragon fruit, passion fruit and coconut juice. Hermione was confident that it would be a hell of a drink and was probably going to be her favourite during this vacation. But she had promised Bill that she would work through their whole drink-list and if it was something Hermione was good at, beside knowledge of any kind, it was at keeping promises.

She let her eyes wander and quickly stuck at a man who was slowly going into the water. The water now reached his hips and he had the back turned to Hermione so she didn't see his face. But Merlin! Wasn't he a handsome one! His back was so smooth (at least from her distance, but one could never be quite sure!) and pale with just a hint of being tanned. He didn't seem like a person who could get tanned but it was just not that. His whole physique was exquisite. He was tall whit long lean muscles that seemed to be hard as rock, and the way they moved when he rolled his shoulders – yum! And that was only from having watched his back, she couldn't wait for him to turn around. His hair though... She had a nagging thought that she recognized that fine blond hair, she only couldn't recall from where... But in the meantime she could continue her appreciation of this males back-anatomy. One of the perks of being single, she thought dryly.

Hermione was however quickly brought back to reality as the towel boy brought her the drink. She paid him and reminded herself to create a tab where she could put all her drinkable and editable costs. Caribbean Sunset was an orange drink topped with one strawberry and one quarter of dragon fruit. It looked absolutely wonderful and tasted like a bit of heaven. She took another hearty sip, before turning back to study this man, only to see that he was gone.


	4. Five Long Years

**A/N: I ****understand that Hermione and other character might be a bit ooc... But this is my fic and my characterization of them, I just wanted you guys to know. So I added, and might add some more, qualities to Hermione that I like to make her a bit more spicy, what do you think? ;) And thanks again Vicxie22 for saving my spelling- and grammatical-ass, and please review :D**

**Five Long Years**

Christmas usually was one of Draco Malfoy's favourite holidays. But not this year, actually it hadn't been his favourite for quite some time now. Not since everything had been messed up during his fifth year. All thanks to his father who was now rotting in Azkaban. He had been immensely happy when the Ministry freed him and his mother of their charges, much because of Potters' testimony he might add. He never seemed to be able to decide which feeling was the strongest; the gratitude or the annoyance that Potty once again had saved the day. Of course, every time the annoyance won he reminded himself that without Scarhead he would too, be rotting in Azkaban. So gratitude should be the only feeling really. But come on! Its Potter we're talking about! The goodie, goodie Mr Potter, the boy-who-lived, everybody's beloved hero. Well, for Draco he would always be the annoying scarheaded Potty.

Draco cursed himself. Why did he have to bring Potter into his mind when he knew it always brought him into a foul mood. He was on his bloody holiday for Merlin's sake. He should enjoy it and not dwell on past events.

He had just gotten up from his swim in the ocean. It would probably come as a shock to most people that he liked and thrived around the ocean. When he'd been little and gone on vacations with his family, he and his mother used to dive in the crystal-clear waters. As a boy he had always been fascinated by the underwater life. A whole life almost completely isolated from the hectic, complicated world above. A nice sanctuary where he could convince himself that they just were an ordinary family without any commitments to the dark side. Not that his father ever dived with them but he never bugged them about it either. Draco thought he secretly enjoyed seeing his wife and son so to ease and carefree. But that was the past.

Draco had asked his mother if she would care to come with him to Porto Rico over Christmas and New Year, and maybe relive good old times, but she had declined. She had wanted to hold the annual Malfoy Christmas ball, that had been cancelled the past five years due to all the trials. She wanted to show the society that they indeed had changed and that they only were human. But she knew how Draco hated parties in general and especially with all the special attention they had gotten lately, so she let him go alone and told him she come sometime after New Year. Narcissa Malfoy may look like an Ice Queen to the rest of the world but to those close to her she's an extraordinary woman. So strong and loving, and Draco couldn't be more proud...

"Excuse me sir, but would you care for something to drink." An middle-aged waiter asked him and woke him up from his deep thoughts.

" Um.. A scotch, please."

"Certainly sir. Your English right, if you don't mind me asking?"

Draco lifted one blonde eyebrow before answering with "How can you tell?"

"Ah, besides the accent the drink which one chooses says a lot about a person and Englishmen are usually very fond of scotches. It's also a type of drink often related to depression."

"Really now." Draco replied sceptically. Wondering if this old man accused him of being depressed or if he was just really talkative with no sense of personal boundaries. "Would you rather I choose another drink Mr..? Sorry I didn't seem to have caught your name."

"My apologies sir. The name is Bill. And for your other question, what you wish to drink is entirely up to you, but you are here on a vacation and wouldn't you rather have a drink you couldn't have at home? After all that's the purpose of a vacation isn't it? Leave home and experience something new."

"I suppose you are right Bill" Draco calmly stated. He usually didn't approve of staff that talked more than they actually worked, but it was something with Bill that he liked so he decided to play along. "So instead of a scotch, what would you suggest?"

"Caribbean Sunset is one of the hotels specialities, and its exquisite if I can say so myself."

"Caribbean Sunset it is then."

oooo

It was around four thirty in the afternoon when Draco decided that he should head back to his hotel room and wash of all the salt. He walked past the many sun beds that were neatly rowed along the beach, and most of the tourists where, like him, on their way back to the hotel. There were, in fact, only a few left in the chairs and his gaze were drawn to one of them. A petite brunette girl to be precise. It looked like she was asleep, but he wasn't quite sure because her face was covered with a large white straw hat. Her figure was nicely shaped and her legs were almost too long for her small frame.

As he walked past her and headed for his room, he couldn't shake of the mental image he created of how those legs would look in a dress.


	5. Surprises

**A/N: I**** am really happy that some of you actually take your time and review, I appreciate it I really do, but would it be too much to ask if you would considered writing something else than 'please update soon'? I have given you a chapter a day, and since I'm actually writing it just before I publish each chapter I think you should give me some credit. Light up my day with a 'love your story' or 'nice work' instead. It will make my inspiration flow even more, I promise you that plus my ego needs a bit of a boost recently :P **

**And if any of you are wondering it's true what I've said about the drinks in the last couple of chapter, I can tell you it's not. Sorry. All made up to fit this fic by a wonderful little thing I usually to call my brain. **

**Sorry about the sour tone in this A/N but it the 27 of December and there isn't any snow! I'm living in Sweden for Christ sake, we're supposed to have snow! **

**Now that's out of my system, thanks again Vicxie22 for being a wonderful beta, and now carry on with the story, shall we?**

**Surprises **

"Ouch" Hermione exclaimed when she rubbed her thighs dry from her recent shower. She had fallen asleep in that blasted sun bed without extending her sun protection-spell, so now her legs wore an angry pinkish colour and it hurt every time the touched them. "Stupid nasty sunburn" she continued her rant while magically drying her hair with her wand. She decided to wear her hair up for her dinner plans. Not that she would be eating with anybody, but one could make herself look pretty for her own sake?

With another flick of her wand she lifted the curls into a loose bun on top of her head, letting a few strays loose to frame her face. After a few small corrections she was happy with the result and started to apply her light make-up non-magically. She had never been a fan of applying make-up magically. All the brushes did their thing at the same time and it reminded Hermione of being attacked by birds. She shuddered at the thought, no she preferred doing it herself.

She put some rouge on her cheeks and painted her eyelashes with mascara and topped it off with a touch lip-gloss on her already pink lips. Giving the bathroom mirror a smile of approval she picked a nail polish in the colour Dusty Pink, and walked to her closet. With her pink thighs she could forget to wear a dress. Irritated she rummage through the closet until her eyes fell on her connected cream-white linen pants and top. That would do just fine she thought as she lay the cloths on the bed and headed to the balcony.

She turned on the radio and listened to the Christmas carols playing while painting both her toe- and fingernails. The radio played both muggle and wizarding music and it wasn't just Christmas carols they were playing either. But the regular songs weren't of the happy, bubbly kind, so everything suited Hermione just fine. That was until _All alone on Christmas _with Darlene Love popped up. Come on! Did everything and everyone need to rub it in her face that she was alone on Christmas Eve?

ooooo

"Oh, good evening Hermione! What can I give you today?" Bill asked as she neared the bar after the dinner.

"Hi, Bill. Something that has minimum chance of staining my clothes please. You know how hard it is to remove stains on white clothes."

"Certainly but wait, wait!" He exclaimed stopping her as she was about to sit on one of the barstools. "You can't just hide behind the bar, let me have a look." He gestured for her to stand up and do a spin.

Whit a slight blush on her cheeks she turned around slowly. The cream-white pants had a high waist and almost reached the floor, making her legs appear longer than they actually were. It was made of linen and they were loose and straight, very different from the fitting jeans she usually wore. The adjoining top was halter-style and was embroidered with gold and bronze pieces of metal at the soft v-neck. From underneath the long pants was a pair of wedge heel cork shoes with straps in cream-white and gold metal pieces. The whole outfit did great in contrast to her warm, but pale, skin-tone and her brown hair with natural cognac highlights. She had worn this to her mother's 50th birthday party. They had shopped together to find something to wear and they had both stuck on this outfit for Hermione with awe. It was a bit expensive and she had regretfully started to put the piece back when her mother had had a fit about how you just couldn't just leave such a perfect outfit and had finally convinced Hermione to buy it. And she hadn't regretted it since.

"It's absolutely lovely!"Bill said enthusiastically.

Hermione gave him a genuine smile before taking her seat and replied "That's very kind of you Bill, and what drink do you have for me today?"

"What do you say about a Mojito?"

"I'd say bring it!"

ooooo

When Draco approached the bar, it was almost eleven o'clock. He had dinner in his suite and then had floo-called his mother to wish her a Merry Christmas. He had requested a suite with a fireplace just for this reason, not because he needed it in the immense heat. She had seemed happy and he was glad. They had talked for about an hour until he realised that he had called in the middle of her night due to the time difference. He had apologized profoundly, and she had said that she didn't mind, but he cursed himself anyway for not thinking about it before. He had ended the call relatively soon after that and then he'd decided to head for the hotel bar to socialize.

When he saw that the bartender was Bill he decided to take a seat there instead of at one of the small tables scattered around the lounge.

"Hey Bill" he said when he was close enough to be heard above the loud music.

At the sound his name Bill turned away from a girl clad in white to greet him.

"Hello sir. Can I introduce you to..."He was cut off by two very surprised voices as both of them recognized the other.

"Granger?"

"Malfoy!"


	6. A Challenge

**A/N: Writing Dramione scenes really takes it out of you, I can tell you that! I'm totally beat but I hope the chapter didn't falter at the end. Please lend me your thoughts and thanks to ThreeUnicorns for helping me since Vicxie22 is out of town.**

**A Challenge**

"Ehm.. You two seem to know each other, am I right?" Bill asked as looked from Hermione to Draco and back to Hermione again.

"Well we.." Hermione began but was cut short by Draco's reply.

"We are old acquaintances, aren't we Granger?" He said with a false smile.

"Mmm…" She said and took a large sip of her mojito so she couldn't be expected to say anything else.

Bill, who had looked confused between these two during their stiff conversation now looked puzzled. Then the expression changed once more, this time into a frown remembering what Hermione had said the previous night. "Didn't you say only enemies used your last name, Hermione?" he said addressing Hermione.

Hermione choked on her drink at this random statement and Draco's eyebrows rose. "Really now?" he drawled. "And for what do I owe the honor of having this kind of emotion aimed at me?"

"Ehm.. well.. you know. Why don't we take a table and catch up, for old times sake, huh?" she said, standing up quickly. Without waiting for his reply she grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to the most remote table she could find. The expression on Malfoy's face could only be interpreted as amusement as she dragged him through the crowd.

"My my Granger. Aren't you a fascinating one?" he said when they had reached the table.

"Oh, shut it."

He let out a low chuckle "Short tempered too I presume. So tell me what have you told Bill the bartender? You two seemed to have gotten along just fine, almost friendly really."

"Well it's nice to have a friendly face to talk to when you are in a foreign country." She answered in a short tone, not bother answering his question.

"So just friendly then?" he asked with a wink. "Nothing more?"

He laughed out loud at the look of horror that covered her face as she realized what he was hinting at. She could almost feel her cheeks blazing scarlet.

"NO! Absolutely not! Not that it's any of your business Malfoy, but NO! Hey you!" she almost shouted and waived a young waitress over to their table. "A scotch please and leave the bottle will you?" Not even noticing the scared look in the waitress's eyes at this up and running Hermione. The waitress barely had the time to turn around before she started with Malfoy again. "How dare you!" she hissed low and panted after the rant, trying to calm herself down.

"Quite done yet?" he asked, amusement still prominent in his expression. All she could do was nod. She didn't trust herself enough to open her mouth without feeling that another heated rant was coming.

"Why did you tell him about your enemies? Though I'm not sure whether to be flattered or angry that you include me in this category."

"Here I thought that maybe your ego had shrunk the last five years, but apparently not. And I didn't expect the Spanish inquisition, and from you none the less!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, and nobody expect the Spanish inquisition." Hermione's eyes widened when he quoted Monty Python which earned her a patronizing glare. "Don't look at me like that. Like you said it has been five years did you really think I could have stand a chance in society if I would have hold on to my old beliefs?"

"But you are still a git, especially to me!"

"Well, you are still an annoying, prude know-it-all, of course I don't like you!"

The waitress came back with a bottle of scotch and two glasses, preventing Hermione from voicing a rather nasty comeback. "Likewise." Was all she said before snatching the glass the waitress held out for her.

After a couple of minutes of an uncomfortable silence she spoke again. "And for the record; I didn't tell him anything!" She wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to explain herself.

"I really thought you were more clever than confiding in the nearest bartender Granger."

"I didn't tell him!"

"So where did his accusation come from then?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

Hermione glared at him before finishing her scotch. "It just slipped out okay and I may have had one too many drinks." Where did that urge come from? It started to get on her nerves! She didn't want to say these things to him. He was Malfoy, God damn it! A complete and total egoistic jerk who despised her guts!

"So Granger can't hold her liquor, can't say I'm surprised though…"

"I can hold my liquor very well thank you. You are not the only one who has changed the last five years you know." And to just prove him she drowned another scotch. And another.

"If you say so." But his tone indicated that he didn't believe a word she had said and reached for his own drink.

"You don't believe me!"

"What is it that you want me to believe?"

"That I can hold my liquor!"

"That sounds like a challenge Granger." His lips slowly curling up into the original Malfoy smirk.

Hermione froze. This could not be good. Not good at all but she couldn't back down either. She would not give him the pleasure of seeing her backing down. She was going to win over his pale arse in this drinking contest if it was the last thing she did. Oh God, what was she about to do? She was so going to regret this in the morning.

"Challenge accepted."


	7. The Consequences Of a Challenge

**A/N: Where are my manners? I've seem to have forgotten to thank those who have reviewed. I'm really happy for those who take their time and read my story and those who add me and my story to their favorite story or story alert. It really makes my day, thank you so much!**

**And please leave a thought to ThreeUnicorns for being a wonderful friend and beta while Vicxie22 is away skiing. If you got the time, check their stories out as well. They are really good and all Dramione.**

**Now lest go on with the chapter shall we? **

**The Consequences Of a Challenge**

_Christmas Day, oh joy._ Hermione thought bitterly as she woke up the following morning. She tried to nestle further into the pillows but was stopped by her throbbing head. Great she had a hangover, again.

_WAIT_.

What the bloody hell happened last night? Had she really had a drinking contest with Malfoy of all people? No, it couldn't be true she would never… Her eyes caught on a paper plane hovering above her bed.

Ignoring the pain it inflicted she reached up to get the Internal message. She fell back onto the pillows with a moan and started opening the plane. It was from Malfoy the git.

_Granger_

_I would have said I was glad to see you again, but we both would have known it was a lie. _

_I'm writing this to tell you that I haven't forgotten that I won our little challenge last night, after all you were the one to throw up first. Not a pretty sight might I add but you held your fort long enough for me to admit that I'm moderately impressed. Not that it does any difference, I still want my prize. Meet me at the north beach eleven o'clock._

_Yours truly_

_D. Malfoy_

Son of a bitch, sod, git, BASTARD. The profanities shot through Hermione's head in lightning speed while she practically killed her pillows with her fists. He won because she had had a few drinks before that bloody challenge started, and being much bigger than her physically he could contain a larger amount of liquor than her. She knew that it had been a really, really bad idea in the first place and why she had gone through with it she could not comprehend.

_Stupid Hermione. Really stupid, and you are supposed to be the smart one. _She had the tendency to scold herself in third person when she was frustrated.

She glanced at the last sentence in the letter again. Eleven o'clock. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was twenty minutes until she had to surf in a toga before Malfoy. Yep, you heard right. She was going to surf dressed in a toga, because sometime during last night's contest she had mentioned that she could surf – which in fact she could not. She had dismissed it as a minor triviality. How could she dismiss a thing as not being able to surf as a minor triviality Had she gone completely mad? No, because she actually thought that she could win over Malfoy in a bloody drinking contest. That was the thing that made her consider whether or not she belonged in a loony.

And she hadn't even had time for a proper breakfast! She quickly scribbled down a request for some hangover potion. She really didn't want to attempt to surf with a throbbing head, it was bad enough already.

As the parchment folded itself into a paper plane s s s he got up and took a quick shower before putting on her bikini. Just as she did the neck-knot on the halter-bikini top i it knocked on the door. The hangover p p otion was here. Finally! She opened the door and grabbed the bottle from the witch outside before she turned around, shouted a thanks over her shoulder and closed the door with her wand. The door hadn't even closed properly before she uncorked the vial and drowned it's content. She had ten minutes before she would meet him at the north beach and it would probably take her that time to get down there.

At least the sheet was going to match her bikini she thought dryly as she grabbed it from her bed and put it down in her beach-bag. The sheet was going to serve the function of a toga this morning, and she desperately hoped the room-service was going to get her a new one before she got back. She threw on a sundress in a dusty pink colour before she put her feet in her favorite flip-flops and hurried out the door.

ooooo

Draco glanced down at his watch. Two minutes. Two minutes and he would probably see the funniest thing during this whole vacation.

He was casually leaning against a palm tree with the surfboard stuck in the sand next to him. He was only wearing a pair of swimming trunks in the colour navy, and the sunlight fought the shadow from the palm tree for territory over his chest.

Earlier this morning he had gone for a jog after sweeping a vial of much needed hung-over potion. He may have won but it clearly hadn't been without struggle. Who knew such a tiny girl could take in such large amount of alcohol without falling off her chair. Well she did fall off her chair a couple of times so that maybe wasn't the way of phrasing it…

His thought tailed off as Granger walked towards him in a golden-terracotta coloured toga. He had to admit that she was pretty. The colour of the toga brought forth some red hints in her hair and enhanced the cognac highlights. Her mouth was drawn to a thin, pink line and her neatly shaped eyebrows (god what having her eyebrows fixed improved her looks, if she had done that in Hogwarts maybe he hadn't bullied her as much. No, that probably wouldn't have done any difference.) were pulled down into a frown. This made him grin.

" So Granger. Ready for showing off your surfing skills yet?"

She pursed her lips even further if that was even possible before she spit out "Just give me the damn board Malfoy."

"What's the rush?"

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe the fact that I am off publically humiliating myself and I want to get this over with." Her voice started soft and innocent before turning to steel. Yikes. That was one temperamental woman.

He picked up the board and handed it to her. "Have fun darling" he said to aggregate her further and waived her off to her humiliating doom.

**A/N: Sorry if I crushed some of your dreams with not writing any Dramione action, but come on! They are not that easy! Both have their dignities and morals. And as a Swedish saying; Those waiting for something good can never wait long enough. **

**And about the togas. For those of you who don't know it's like a sheet draped across one shoulder and around the body. The old Greeks and Romans used to wear them. **


	8. Bloody Toga

**A/N: Technical little me have now found out that you can answer reviews. Cool huh? So ask away if you're wondering something and I will do my best to answer. **

**Let's thank ThreeUnicorns for a wonderful job shall we?**

**On another note. This is probably the last update before New Year. So I will just wish you, my lovely readers, a happy New Year and we'll see each other in 2012.**

**Over and out.**

**Bloody Toga **

_You can do this Hermione!_ She said to herself while dragging the surprisingly heavy surfboard towards the water. _How hard can it be? You'll just stand up on the board and keep your balance. Piece of cake, really._ She groaned. She couldn't even convince herself, how was she going to convince Malfoy?

She swallowed loudly when she had come close enough to feel the mist from the waves when they beat up the shore.

She was a fast learner, this couldn't be much worse than when she attempted to levitate herself (an almost impossible task) in order to get Chrookshaks down from a tree. That had started catastrophically but eventually turned out okay. This, on the other hand, she severely doubted would turn out okay. She wasn't such a fast learner.

_Not good, not good, not good. _

She turned back to look at Malfoy, who grinned like the Cheshire Cat and gave her a thumbs up. _How reassuring. _She growled back at him before stepping out in the water.

_At least the water is warm,_ she thought bitterly. _Yeay! Now my doom will be warm as to prepare me for Hell because that's where I'm heading. This is what I get for making a deal with the devil. _At least she won't be lonely because her sarcasm will follow her all the way…

But Hermione Granger was not a girl who backed down from a bet. No sir, she was not. Determinately she waded out till the water reached her mid-thighs. Then she lay down on the board and started paddle out like she had seen real surfers do on television.

She was really grateful that they were almost alone on the beach because she wasn't sure she could stand much more humiliation. At least the waves weren't all too high this day. She looked back to the shore, she was probably far out enough so she crawled up to sitting position on the board. Her toga was completely drenched and made her feel like she weighed 100 kg, oh great. Like it wasn't enough for her already.

She cast a glance back at Malfoy, only to see him with his back turned talking briefly to someone. She recognized that back. _Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy._ That was the back from yesterday which she had tried to put a face to. Too bad that face belonged to Malfoy. The biggest git on the planet and who currently forced her to do this. He had now turned back to her and she clenched her jaw and started looking for a good wave. Not that she knew how a good wave would look, but Malfoy didn't know that.

She saw a big wave coming up behind her. It was now or never.

She lay flat on her stomach again and started paddling to get some speed. The wave was now directly behind her and she felt how the back of the board started to rise with the water. Was this the time she should stand up? She wasn't sure but what the heck.

Holding a firm grip on her toga so it wouldn't drag her down she tried to stand on her shaky legs. She could feel the sheer force of the water under the board and she remembered her father always telling her to have respect for the water. She sure understood what he meant by that now.

_Halfway up, just a little bit more. That's it. Good Hermione. Great. _She was standing up. She was actually standing up!

She cast smug look at Malfoy. That was her mistake. When she had lifted her eyes from the board her feet she lost its balance.

First there were only a tiny wobble. Then it escalated. The board started rocking back and forth and she tried to use her arms to regain her balance, but it was all for nothing.

She fell.

ooooo

Merlin be damned. She could actually surf. To say that Draco was impressed was an understatement. She had looked so nervous when she had first got here and then the way she had paddled indicated nervousness as well. But now she was standing up and surfing. She wasn't a perfect surfer by any means, but she was surfing nonetheless.

He put down the towel he had asked the staff for after he noticed that she'd forgotten to bring one. She was going to surf in a toga, bringing her a towel was the least he could do for her. He was after all raised like a gentleman.

Who's idea was it that they would surf in a toga? It was absolutely ridiculous! Probably Grangers'. He couldn't understand why they called her the smartest witch of their age. Look at her! She's… falling? Yep. Definitely falling.

He went closer to the waterline so that he could mock her when she got up again. Only she didn't. _By Merlin's pink toenails why wasn't she coming up!_ It had been almost a minute since she had crossed the water surface and not come up again.

He grabbed his wand from the back pocket of his swimming trunks and started running out in the water. When the water reached his hips he dived. Well below the water he conjured an air bubble around his nose and mouth with his wand which allowed him to breath and then used the wand to produce a jet that transported him forward.

He found her rather quickly and decided that the toga had been a really, really bad idea. He saw how she tried to undo the knot that hold the toga together and he saw her movements slowed down. She was surrounded of a halo in brown and gold made by her hair and toga. It was quite a beautiful sight, too bad she was drowning and it was Granger he talked about.

He swam the last bit until he reached her and helped her with the knot. As the sheet fell towards the seabed her head shot up with the last of her strength. They locked eyes and he could have sworn he saw recognition and gratefulness in them before they slowly closed.

_SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!_ He quickly made another air bubble around her mouth and nose before grabbing her arm and performing his first underwater-apparation.

ooooo

They landed with a thud on the beach. He removed the air bubbles and started with CPR on the unconscious woman next to him. Granger was so going to pay for this, mark his words.


	9. Slaped Into Reality

**A/N: Thanks Vicxie22 for betaing! (is that even a word…?)**

**Slapped Into Reality **

Slap.

Her chin stung. Lovely.

Slap.

Her other chin stung but all was still black. She tried to open her eyes but was blinded by the bright light. All was black again. Much better!

Slap.

Who was attacking her face? She tried to open her eyes again and this time she saw her attacker. Of course it was Malfoy, who else would slap her face?

"Oh look Sleeping Beauty is up."

"Calling me beautiful now Malfoy? Certainly an improvement" She mumbled as she closed her eyes once more.

He looked down on her and laughed. "You nearly died and you are using sarcasm. You surprises me Granger but what's wrong with you?"

"Hey… you started. And nothing's wrong with me."

"Yeah, right." he mumbled under his breath.

She raised an eyebrow at this but otherwise ignored it and asked instead "What happened?"

"What happened? Oh, I can tell you what happened." he was now pacing on the beach next to her. The movement made her head dizzy. "You told me you could do it, and then you fell and almost drowned! Really clever Granger."

"I told you what?"

"That you could surf!"

"Oh that. Minor triviality." She repeated what she had told herself earlier.

"Minor triviality? Minor Triviality! Have you lost all sense in that mind of yours?" he started walking away from where she lay on the beach while mumbling "minor triviality" over and over again. Then he turned back again. " If I hadn't been here you would have died. If I hadn't rescued you, you would have died. If I hadn't done CPR, you would have DIED!"

"Well I'm fine now thanks to you, so no harm done. And for the record this was you idea as well!"

"Yeah but I thought you could surf! Otherwise I would never have made you do it! What were you thinking?" the last sentence was more patronizing than angry.

"I suppose I wasn't thinking. And the toga wasn't one of my most brilliant plans either, huh?"

"Definitely not! Why they call you the smartest witch of our age, I don't understand."

Hermione didn't comment on that statement because recently she had begun to question that herself too. So instead she asked "Can you help me up?" after all he had rescued her so he probably would help her up as well if she asked.

He lend her his hand which she took with both of hers, afraid that she wouldn't have the strength to hold on with just one as he pulled her up.

Accidently, of course, her gaze stuck to his bare chest as he did this and she saw all of his abs and arm-muscles flexing, as he pulled her up with no effort at all. _Lovely, yummy muscles. _Suddenly she became aware of how close they now stood, both wet and almost naked. She in her bikini and him in his swimming trunks. She didn't want to be physically attracted to him, he was Draco Malfoy for crying out loud, but she were nonetheless, no use to denying it.

The worst part of this were that she wasn't steady enough to support herself just yet so she had no choice but to lean against this attractive man next to her who had just saved her life. She just had to suppress that attractive part and replace it with Draco 'The Git' Malfoy. That would keep her mind of some things she shouldn't be thinking about.

Like say his neatly shaped chest.

" Why did you do it?" he softly asked this time waking her up from her sinful thoughts, making her blush in the process, as he leaded her to where they had left their things under the palm tree.

She thought that as he had saved her life she should probably tell him the truth. This made her blush even more as the truth was quite embarrassing. "I have too much honor and pride to back down from the consequences of a challenge. Why I said that I could surf in the first place was because you said you could and I didn't want your ego to take a trip to the moon."

"Hmmm…" he looked thoughtful for a moment before he voiced his next question "And as for the toga?"

"Well… it wouldn't humiliate you if you just had to surf, hence the toga…" not one of her brightest plans.

They had reached the palm tree and he picked up a towel and handed it to her. "Thanks" she mumbled while trying hard not to squirm under his questioning glare.

"You really thought you were going to win last night, didn't you?"

"Well… yeah. It was not one of my brightest moments, okay."

He just shook his head as she dried herself with the towel.

ooooo

He didn't get her. She was supposed to be smart and then she did this just because he said he could do it? How mature of her.

Really he had thought more of Granger. But then again he remembered how stubborn she had been back in Hogwarts. Almost as stubborn as him, so it shouldn't be such a surprise.

He was still angry with her though.

She had given him a ghastly fright back there. First she hadn't responded to CPR and he had thought for sure that he had killed her with that damn challenge. It wouldn't have been pretty since she was a member of the golden trio and he was a former death eater. People would have suspected the worst and he would have, for sure, ended up in Azkaban.

When he saw her breathing again he had almost screamed with joy. Not only because what could have happened if she hadn't but also from the fact that he really didn't want to be the reason she had died. Even though he and Granger didn't like each other very much, they did have some good verbal-fights. Although it made him pretty mad after he had to admit that it was fun with someone who could come up with new insults instead of recycling old ones. It was a rare trait that made her a good opponent, so he was happy that she didn't die or suffered from any real head damage. That last one would have been unfortunate even if it would have taken her down a notch from being a know-it-all.

She would certainly make vacation interesting, that's for sure, and though he never would admit it out loud he was glad to have someone with more than a spoonful of brain cells to have a conversation with.

**A/N: I hope I didn't make Hermione seem… easy. It's just if you end up in a guys arms, accidently or not, you notice things even though that guy can be a jerk. Especially if the guy is hot… **

**And if Draco seems a bit scared in the beginning its because he fears the consequences if he had accidently killed Hermione. **

**Just to make it clear. ;)**


	10. Emotionless

**A/N: I didn't know in which direction I wanted to take this chapter, but hopefully it turned out okay. I'm quite pleased with the ending but I would love to hear your thoughts about it! **

**Many thanks to my beta Vicxie22! You're wonderful!**

**Emotionless **

Hermione sat on her balcony with a blanket wrapped around her and watched the sun go down later that day. She had mostly slept after Malfoy had helped her back to her room after that disastrous surf-incident earlier that morning. Nearly drowning really took it out of you. She felt completely drained and had barley even had the power to move herself out to the balcony, but she had drawn the conclusion that the fresh air would do her good.

The horizon was supporting a deep orange colour as the sun slowly worked its way down behind some clouds far away. But not even the beautiful sight before her could lift her dim mood.

She didn't understand how she could have been so stupid. Attempting to surf when she knew she couldn't and in a bloody toga. What's wrong with her? Risking her life jut to prove a point. What if she really had died? She had survived all those tasks with Harry and Ron over the years. She had survived death threats. She had survived the war. And then she almost died while attempting to surf.

She shook her head slowly. _Stupid. Stupid. Complete and utterly stupid._ What if Malfoy hadn't been able to save her? What if he had been too late? What if he had chosen to not save her at all? Why did he save her?

A knock on the door put an end to her never ending questions. Not even considering rising and answering the door by hand, she just waived her wand over her shoulder to open the door and shouted a distant "come in". Not really caring who's entering.

The footsteps came closer until they stopped right behind her in the balcony's doorway. Still she didn't turn around. She wasn't curious to find out who it was, like she probably would have during normal circumstances, she couldn't care less actually.

"How are you feeling?" The low and deep voice belonged to Malfoy. So he was her visitor. Huh. She didn't know how to feel about that.

"Fine" she answered in monotone.

"Really now? Because you don't look fine."

It was only now she turned around in her chair to face him as he leaned against the doorframe. "I said I'm fine" she firmly repeated.

"Then why don't I believe you?"

She turned back to the horizon, ignoring his question and instead voiced a question of her own. "Why are you here?"

ooooo

That was indeed a valid question. Why was he there? Draco wasn't quite sure. Something had gnawed him all day, ever since he left her room at noon. The gnawing had continued to increase all afternoon and had eventually become unbearable. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. He presumed that it was guilt that made him feel this way but wasn't quite sure. It wasn't a very common feeling for him.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You have stated you question and received an answer, now what are you still doing here?"

Ouch. That's cold. It was not that the question contained harsh and degrading words that her replies usually held. No. It was the emptiness in her voice that made the question ice-cold.

"I'm here to keep you company." He answered as he took a seat in the garden chair next to her.

"And why is that?" She snorted, a bit of her old self make an appearance in the otherwise emotionless speech she now supports.

" Because I feel like it's my fault. And I don't like it."

"Well it was partly you fault, and no one likes feeling guilty Malfoy."

Hmm. So it was guilt then. Interesting. "I suppose not."

After this, an awkward silence felled into place. Both of them didn't seem to know what to say, at least Draco didn't.

They watch the sun set deeper and how it turn the sky and the steel gray storm clouds into a crimson colour.

"It's beautiful." She said softly after about fifteen minutes of silence.

It really was a magnificent sight but he didn't know how to express that without sounding soft. He was a man, God damn it! "Yeah." Was the only thing that came out. It was quiet for another minute or so before they heard a distant thunder. "But it looks like it's going to rain. Those clouds are moving quite fast in our direction." He continued indication to the roaming steel gray clouds.

"Probably."

They sat there for another fifteen minutes until they could fell the first raindrops against their faces.

"We should probably go inside" he said as he stood up, knowing how fast storms erupted in these regions.

He reached her a hand to help her up which she took absently before he led her to one of the sofas. It was quite creepy to see Granger like this. She was usually so full of life. It didn't matter whether she was happy or angry, she didn't express any emotion half-heartedly.

And it was his fault. Not entirely his fault, it was she who had lied about the not-being-able-to-surf part, but his fault nonetheless. He felt the urge to help her, to soothe her but he didn't know how. Sure he had plenty of experience with women, but not in this area. How did you help a woman who seemed emotionless?

It was then he heard the first sob.

He glanced over to her and saw her eyes shiny with tears. It reminded him of his mother after father had got his sentence to Azkaban. It was the only time he had seen his mother shed tears in public. Without thinking about it he did exactly what he had done back then. He sat down close to her and slowly slid his arms around her now shaking body, letting her rest her head on his chest. It was such an uncharacteristic action for a Malfoy, but he didn't care.

He hugged her tight. Not intending to let her go before she had fallen asleep.


	11. Tears

**A/N: This is far from the end of this fic in case you wonder. No I have a few more things I would like to include and I hope you don't grow tired of this story. If you have some thoughts about future events that you would like me including feel free to leave a review. And if you don't have anything to add or maybe scold me for my poor English feel free to do that as well. I'll greet everything with open arms (well, maybe not harassments but you get my point).**

**Wow, already eleven chapters! Yeay for me! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed, story alerted and added this story/or me to their favorites! Thanks bunches!**

**Another thanks to ThreeUnicorns for beataing, since Vicxie22 really loves to go skiing during her holidays. You guys are the best!**

**Tears**

Hermione didn't know for how long she cried against Malfoy's chest. She cried until there wasn't any more tears to shed, until her eyes felt like sandpaper and his shirt underneath her chin was soaked and rough. But she didn't move, yet. Just because she had gone out of tears didn't mean that she was any less upset.

She had cried out of fear. It had suddenly struck her that she very well could have died this morning, and for such a pathetic reason.

She had cried out of regret. Thinking that she almost left this world without making peace with Harry and Ron. They were her best friends and even if she didn't feel the same way about Ron as she had used to, he was still her friend and she didn't want to lose him.

She had cried out of gratefulness. Gratefulness towards Malfoy, because he had been there. Because he was here.

She had cried out of lots of reasons. But right know she mostly felt grateful towards the man hugging her tight. Towards a man whom she had for long thought of as an enemy, who now held her without a word just as he had done the last couple of hours.

Why had he shown her such compassion and understanding? Not that she complained but… one couldn't help but wondering.

Feeling slightly embarrassed that she had been showing her weak side to Malfoy, even though he seemed to have changed quite a lot since school, she slowly broke apart the comforting embrace.

He let his hands slide off her side and upper back from where they had been placed, reassuringly patting her back.

"Thank you," she said looking into his, surprisingly warm, gray eyes so he could see her large amount of gratefulness. "For everything."

He calmly looked back, understanding that by everything she meant both this morning and now. "You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Malfoy spoke again. "Are you hungry or do want something to drink?"

She stared at him like he had lost his marbles. Is this really happening? Is Draco Malfoy offering her food and drinks? But she assumed that after him holding her in his arms - comforting her - for the last few hours, nothing's impossible. That had really been a table turner, hadn't it? Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

_Woha! __Too deep thoughts. Easy thoughts only, please. _"Err… a d-drink wou-would b-be nice." She said, a blush of embarrassment coloured her cheeks as the stuttering wouldn't go away.

He rose and walked over to her still unused bar. "Scotch?" he asked raising a bottle filled with golden-brown liquor.

"Yes, please." She watched him fill two glasses behind the bar before he picked them up and brought them to the coffee table.

"Here" he gave her the glass.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

A couple of more minutes of stained silence followed. They really seemed to support the awkward silence didn't they?

"Why scotch?" he suddenly asked as he lifted the glass into the light with one hand and twirled the liquid around.

Hermione pulled her legs up next to her on the sofa, making sure they were securely wrapped in the comforts of the blanket, before taking her own glass in both hands and answering. "My dad always used to drink it. He said it soothed him" she smiled fondly down at her drink as if it contained happy memories. "He always used to take a glass - just one – after a rough day at the office. So when he kissed me goodnight he always smelled like this" she lifted her glass under her nose and took one deep breath, closing her eyes and savoring the smell. "Reminds me of my childhood" she continued and opened her eyes. "Before everything got so messed up, that is."

"So before Hogwarts?"

"Before Hogwarts. Though I never regret going. I can't even imagine a life without magic, but it was certainly a lot easier. But then again, the problems maybe came with age."

"Life has certainly become a lot more difficult with age." He replied solemnly.

"Yes it has, hasn't it?"

"I used to come here with my family. But that was before everything got so fucked up. Maybe it was fucked up back then too, only I were too young to understand. It was almost like we were a normal family. Father even let me take surf lessons." He smiled at the memory. "He wasn't a bad man, you know. He just got lost along the way, and never found his way back." His expression had now turned sad.

She didn't know what to do. Sure her life had taken an dramatic turn after she had started attending Hogwarts, and even more so after the war. But her life's changes were nothing like Malfoys. She put her hand on his thigh and gave it a comforting squeeze.

He looked at it and his lips turned to something that resembled a smile. "I would like to teach you how to surf."

The question came out of the blue and left Hermione gaping like a fish.

"Wh-wha-what?" she managed to force out. _Damn stuttering!_

"I would like to teach you how to surf so there won't be a situation like this morning next time you decide that it's a good idea to attempt surfing." The famous Malfoy smirk was now pasted his face. "Think about it. Tell me you decision in the morning. Good night Granger."

And with that he left her hotel room. Leaving a shocked Hermione in his wake.


	12. Persuasion

**A/N: Pretty much dialogue in this chapter, but I hope you'll like it. I really enjoyed writing this so hopefully you'll feel the same. Thanks to ThreeUnicorns for betaing!**

**And without further a due…**

**Persuasion **

Draco closed the door to Grangers hotel room with a soft _click_. He wasn't quite sure why he had said all those things to her. He especially didn't understand why he had offered himself to help her learn how to surf. There were professionals to rent if she was even interested, which he presumed she was not. Not after the near-drowning-experience this morning. It was enough to make other people scared to only watch a board after a accident like that. But he doubted that that would be the case with Granger.

She was too tough to let such an accident scare her away completely. The events this evening indicated that she had – indeed - been scared, his crumpled shirt could testify to that. He was actually pretty surprised that she'd allowed herself to show such emotions in his presence. Fear had probably shocked her into doing that, but she wasn't the kind of girl who would be scarred for life.

He was pretty sure that she wouldn't allow herself to go down that road. That's why he was so confident about what her answer would be tomorrow morning. At least with a bit of persuasion.

He reached his own suite and headed straight to bed. It had certainly been a really strange and eventful day.

ooooo

When Hermione woke up the next day the two most prominent feelings were amazement and anger. Scratch that. Make them tied for second place. Her most prominent feeling for now was hunger. She had barely eaten anything since yesterday and her stomach was not so happy about that.

She hurried up from bed to take a shower and then she put on a peach-coloured sundress. She headed down to the breakfast hall ten minutes later.

It was quite lovely to wake up without a hangover, the whole world seemed much more light and lovely. A smile snuck up and curled her lips slightly. She was alive, didn't have a hangover and she was about to have a yummy breakfast; three pretty important things in Hermione's book that made a great day.

Everything was flower and sunshine until she saw Malfoy at one of the tables, eating breakfast alone while reading the newspaper. Then she quickly remembered his proposal from last night and the anger and amazement flooded her mind again.

Like she would put her feet on a board ever again! She shuddered at the mere thought. But why had he even made the offer? It wasn't like Malfoy was the giving kind. She almost laughed out loud at the thought.

She walked towards his table with confident strides preparing herself mentally for neglecting his offer.

He still hadn't seen her when she stopped right before his table. She stood there a couple of more minutes waiting for him to notice her.

But he didn't.

She mentally growled. Self-righteous prick, thinking he's so superior to everybody else. She cleared her throat loudly.

"Not even a Good Morning, Granger?" he drawled still from behind the newspaper.

So he had known that she'd been standing there. This time she growled out loud.

"Feisty I see. Woken up on the wrong side perhaps? Maybe some breakfast will do you good." he put the paper aside and indicated with a hand gesture for her to sit down.

Reluctantly she pulled out the chair and sat down with a 'humf'. Malfoy raised one eyebrow but she could see the smile that tugged at his lips, but he didn't say anything. Instead he waived a waiter to the table.

"Can you get her a continental breakfast and another coffee for me please."

"Absolutely sir." The waiter responded before turning back to get their food.

"You know, I'm perfectly capable of ordering for myself, thank you very much!"

"I don't doubt that you are but I was faster, wasn't I?"

"You really are a condescending, self-righteous prick you know that?"

"I know, but it's fun!" he said and wiggled his eyebrows.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. He really was impossible.

"So shall we start with the lessons directly after breakfast or would you like to do it later in the afternoon?"

"I haven't even said yes!"

"Is that a yes?"

"NO!"

"Hmmm… didn't take you for the scared type Granger, but I suppose that everybody's got their secrets."

"I'm not scared!"

"Of course you aren't."

"I'm not! Stop patronizing me!"

"Then why aren't you accepting my offer?"

_Oh bugger._ "Because maybe I don't want to be near you." _Hahaha! Suck on that you git!_

"Ouch! That hurt Granger. Has anyone ever told you that you are a stone-cold bitch?"

"No, because those people that think that way doesn't tend to stick around."

"That's probably true, but after last night I thought I made it clear that I didn't intend letting you go that easy and by your actions I assumed that you didn't want me to."

"It's not like I almost drown every day. Forgive me if I was a little emotional. You didn't have to stick around." Though she was really happy that he had, not that she ever intended to tell him that.

"Even I am not that cold to leave a woman in distress. I'm a gentleman you see."

"Hah! And since when do you act like it?"

"Since yesterday."

"Good for you."

"More likely; good for you. And you're accepting my offer."

"Oh really? Am I now?"

"Yes you are. Because you don't want to live the rest of your life in fear of surfing. I can help you overcome that."

"You know I can hire a professional to do the same, right?"

"Sure you can. But then you would need to explain your fear that you'll likely experience when you're up on that board again. And I don't think your ego will like that very much. If you'll let me help you then you won't have such a problem and you can be close to me all the time, which is every woman's dream."

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Is that finally a yes?"

"Hmmmfh."

"I'll take that as a yes since you seem to have lost your ability to speak. Now eat your breakfast so we can get started."

_Oh boy. What have I gotten myself into? Surfing lessons with Draco Malfoy? Ginny's going to freak when she hears about this!_


	13. Surf Lesson

**A/N: It seems like I have detected a small flaw in my attempts to make this story good… I really like the thought of Draco teaching Hermione how to surf, the small difficulty is that I don't have a f**king clue how to surf. I know, smart really smart… So I will do my best and if any of you have some tips and such, please feel free to PM me or put it in a review.**

**On another (more depressing) note… today is the last day of the winter break so the updates will probably not be as frequent (sad, sad face). But the lessons will probably be boring, so hopefully I will be able to write some then. Suck on that teachers Mohahahah… *cough, cough* **

**Oh yeah.. someday this coming week I and my friend ThreeUnicorns will post a story that originally was a mail-conversation between the two of us that quickly went out of hand… It's not posted here though. Because it's co-written we have decided to create a new account, Unicorn And Freaky (creative I know…) so it will be posted there if you care to take a peek.**

**Thanks to Vixcie22 for the beta and let's get on with the story after this monstrous A/N…**

**Surf lesson **

Hermione stood with her arms crossed defiantly over her chest looking skeptically at Malfoy who was on his knees in the sand, drawing two surfboards. He really thought that he could get her on a board again didn't he? Hermione herself was less than certain, and even though the drawn surfboards looked ridiculous they were better than the alternative.

"So" Malfoy began as he stood up turning around to face her, before he continued with a smirk tugging at his lips."This will be your board today." He pointed on right board.

"Wonderful" she murmured dryly but stayed put.

"It's quite hard to teach you something when you're standing there all day."

"Sorry if I'm not so excited about this" she said to him and walked over to the sand-board she had been assigned.

"Too bad for you. Now position yourself on the board to the side which you're feeling most comfortable with. I like to stand turned to the right with my right foot on the back of the board and my left in the middle."

Hermione did as he said and positioned herself like he did, her back at him, much so he couldn't see her nervous expression. "Like this?" she asked placing her feet like he had instructed, but otherwise standing unyielding like a pop-stickle.

"Are you serious?"

She turned her head around to stare at him. "What?"

"You can't seriously believe that you would be able to surf like that?" He waived his arm up and down like that would have explained her stiff stance.

"Then how should I stand? You haven't given me any more instructions" she said, getting rather aggravated.

"Loosen up! Bend your legs slightly. Use your arms to keep the balance."

She tried to do all the things that he said. Keeping the information in her head was a piece of cake. Ordering her body to do them was another. There was a reason she had spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book. Her body didn't always end up doing what it was supposed to do. She had quite a few embarrassing moments in her past that she'd put away, locked, and never intended to recollect, ever again.

"Better?" she asked sticking her tongue out slightly in the corner of her mouth, just as she always did when she concentrated.

His response was an amused chuckle turning into a cough. "Yes, well as much as I and everyone else on this beach like the view, sticking your butt out like that will make you unbalanced which will probably make you fall."

Her embarrassment as he was referring to her butt was quickly replaced by fear and an unwelcome shiver spread through her body.

_Did he have to mention the possibility to fall?_

"Relax Granger" his voice was suddenly right behind her. And of course that fact made her freeze once more and thus doing directly the opposite of what he asked.

Suddenly she felt his hands on her shoulders. First she went even more stiff but as he didn't let go she grew calm under his touch. _Interesting._

"Relax, deep breaths. That's it Granger. We're still on solid ground. Nothing to be afraid of. Now bend your legs. Good. Look at that, almost perfect."

"Almost?" She said with a frown. Hermione didn't like being 'almost perfect'. If she wasn't perfect she trained until she perfected it.

"Your butt is still too big.." Malfoy almost breathed this in her ear and she could nearly feel his smirk against her neck.

His hands left their secure places on her shoulders and started tailing down to more dangerous territories that acquaintances shouldn't touch! Because she supposed that was what they were. Acquaintances. Not friendly not enemies.

His hands stopped at her hips and she almost forgot to breathe. Why did he have this affect on her? It wasn't healthy!

After giving her hips a slight nudge forward he whispered once again in her ear. "Now it's perfect." Before stepping back and therefore letting Hermione breathe normally again. She didn't understand why that whisper made her feel all tingly and she didn't intend to stick around long enough to find out.

"What time is it?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible and completely random.

"Ehmm… quarter to one." She could nearly hear the frown in his voice.

"Oh my! Really? Then I better get going. I have a spa-appointment at one. See you around!" she quickly took her stuff and cleared the field.

Hurrying back to the hotel she decided that she might as well make the lie she told Malfoy real. Merlin knew she could use the relaxation. Heading in the direction of the spa she crossed her fingers hoping with all her might, that they had an opening.

ooooo

Draco was left staring as Granger hurried in the direction of the hotel. He knew that he had probably taken it one step too far with grabbing her hips and all, but come on, he was a male! She was sticking her cute butt out towards him, what was he supposed to do? Just stand and stare? No, Malfoys' didn't stare, they took action and that was precisely what he had done. Besides he always liked getting Granger uncomfortable, it was his own little hobby.

Wait. His thought came to a shrieking halt. Rewind that a couple of sentences. Had he really thought that Grangers butt was cute? Cute? Just like Malfoys didn't stare Malfoys also didn't thought things were cute. Especially not Granger's butt.

He needed a drink.


	14. The Following Days

**A/N: I just want to say that... School sucks. It really does. NO TIME TO WRITE FANFICS! Terribly sorry I haven't updated on the whole week and then write this filler-chapter... I will try to write another and post it on Sunday though ;)**

**I have posted the first chapter on **_**The Most Epic E-mail Conversation Ever Written **_**the co-written story that I mentioned in chapter 13s A/N. Author ****Unicorn And Freaky.**

**Let's continue...**

**The Following Days**

The following days she and Malfoy met frequently for their surfing lessons. It was a bit awkward first, she'll admit. But after the first two days they had both seemed to decide to forget the whole incident that occurred on boxing day.

As oddly as it may sound Hermione didn't want to lose Malfoy as company. She did enjoy their surf lessons, though she had been scared shitless when Malfoy first had gotten her into the water with the board again. They had started with smaller waves so she could get comfortable around the thought of surfing again and now she was even able to stand on the board for nearly a minute without falling off.

Hermione was quite proud of herself for overcoming that fear, even though she still was a bit vigilant. The first times she had fallen off had been completely horrifying but as soon as she had crossed the water Malfoy had been a surprisingly good teacher.

Now it sounded like they got along all the time and had become BFFs in an instant.

It wasn't like that.

Not at all!

They still argued a lot and the insults were never stopping. But it was like there was something else behind it. Like the motive had change and the insults weren't based on true emotions any more. It was more like… she winced at the word… friendly bickering.

Over the last couple of days Hermione had grown to enjoy their time together. It was nice to have someone intelligent to talk to and she liked how they never used the same insults. With Harry and Ron it got boring since they usually only rephrased their insults to match their new purpose. With Malfoy it was a challenge.

Sometimes they had grabbed a bite at the beach club after the lessons and some other time they had met in the bar and conversed with Bill. During the last week Hermione had gotten to know Draco Malfoy in a way she had never dreamed of before this point.

She had learned that he worked as prosecutor for the Wizengamot, and loved it. The thought of Malfoy loving his work was still quite foreign to her but she suspected that if there were a profession he would be good at, it was as a prosecutor. He did however still hold the majority of the stock of Malfoy Enterprises and was on the board, but he had let someone else take the heavy burden of controlling the company. She now also knew that he was endlessly devoted to his mother. He hadn't told her this but they seemed to have a strong relationship that reached throughout his childhood. Maybe to compensate for all those times Lucius Malfoy hadn't been there for his family or the times he had been there and dragged them down another dark path with him.

Malfoy had also told her how he hated all the publicity he and his mother had gotten since the war, and that was one of the reasons he had decided to spend his holidays here at Puerto Rico. His mother was apparently trying to redeem their family name even more and was therefore holding a huge balls over both Christmas and New Year. She would come here some days after New Year though. That would be interesting!

Hermione had just written Ginny Weasely (The only Weasely who didn't blame her for her and Ron's break-up) a letter where she wished them a happy Ney Year and told her everything that had happened here, including all the Malfoy related. She could really use her friend right now. Ginny always seemed to know everything about relations between two different people, and that was probably why she was so great at being chef of public relations at the ministry.

Hermione had stayed the afternoon in her hotel room to prepare herself for the New Years Eve, and by prepare herself she meant taking a nice, long shower and a much-needed nap.

Now the clock showed 19.30 and she would meet Malfoy in half an hour for dinner. They both didn't want to spend their Eve all alone and eat the hotels New Years dinner by themselves. That would just have looked tragically pathetic and both of them didn't want to start the New Year that way. So they had mutually decided to eat together to fight the loneliness. They both didn't want to admit that they were looking forward to this though, not even to themselves.

So now she stood in front of her closet admiring her new New Years dress. It was absolutely spectacular. It was a one-armed dress that reached ¾ of her right arm. It narrowed in the waist to then flow out and reach her mid-thigh. The whole thing was beautifully decorated with different tones of glittery gold sequins.

She clapped her hands and squealed in delight. She had longed to wear this one. It fitted so perfectly and made her feel invincible. With a sight of satisfaction she turned around to put her make-up on.

She used a loose transparent powder over her face and put some rose-coloured rouge on her cheekbones. It was the eyes that she had decided to focus on. Closest to the eye and the lashes she used a black eye-pen to mark her eye and then she used a smoky eye-shadow on her lid. To soften the now smoky eyes she put some gold eye-shadow, which matched the sequins on her dress, from the middle of the lid and worked it out towards her brow, fading along the way. She used different sorts of gold to make it more living and then topped it off with mascara.

When she smiled at the reflection and saw her eyes sparkle like her make-up in the well lit bathroom, she admitted to herself that she was very satisfied with the result. She had decided to thoroughly curl her hair so she went into the main room again and grabbed her wand.

Mumbling a spell that made the wand heat up she began to twist her messy curls around it into elegant ones. When she had done her whole hair she decided to fasten some of her front curls onto the back of her head with a gold clap, this one also matching the dress.

Turning of her wand she headed for her dress still hanging in the closet. A swift glance at the clock said that it was already 19.50 and she needed to hurry if she wanted to get to their table in time. She had always valued punctuality which was something Ron had never done. They were so different why couldn't he see that?

She shook her head so that the curls swayed around her shoulders. No. she wouldn't let Ron ruin this evening like he had with so many others. This was a new start of a brand new year.

She quickly put on her dress, zipped it up on the side, put on her coal-black mocha pumps and headed out the door. Closing it with a bang she closed the door to the last, terrible year and opened the new one with open arms.


	15. New Years Eve Part 1

**A/N: Like I promised. A new chapter on Sunday! :D Hopefully I will be able to write something and post it during next week, but the next chapter I want to make perfect so it may take some time. Keep faith.**

**New Years Eve Part 1**

Draco's clock showed 19.55 which meant that Granger would arrive in five minutes. He was quite surprised of how much had change between them last week. The awkward days following their first lesson had changed into something close to normality. They laughed and bickered and did normal stuff that he would usually do with his best friend, Blaise Zabini. It turned out that Granger wasn't as prude like he always thought she would be.

She was witty and as far as insults come she could give him a run for his money. Hermione Granger was fun to be around. Now, wasn't that a first?

He was dressed in black trousers and an expensive white shirt with a fine dark grey tie. Traditionally he would were his dress robes but the heat wouldn't allow it, and he had no intentions of sweating like a mad-man. So black slacks and a thin white shirt it was.

He and Granger had eaten lunch a couple of times and also grabbed a few drinks at the bar. It turned out that Granger was rather talkative when she had had a few drinks and he didn't irritate her to no end. He now knew for at fact that she had broken up with Ron, something he'd only speculated on before. He also knew that since then she had been working constantly at the ministry. She said that she had much to finish each day and didn't want to postpone her work and therefore working overtime. Draco supposed she was rather busy. Being head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and all, but it was the way she said it that made him doubt that it was the only reason. It was like something kept her from going home and be able to relax.

Even here at a resort island she wasn't fully relax though that was the precisely why she had come here.

He looked up and saw her come down the stairs in a black one-armed dress and black high heels supporting her long, lean legs. He knew those legs would look good in a dress! And what a dress it was! It showed of her narrow waist and billowing around her thighs perfectly. The gold sequins glistered in the dim light, reflecting the golden tones the sun had picked out of her skin. Her otherwise quite messy curls had been ordered into glossy ones, framing her face and falling over her shoulders. And she had made a smoky eye make-up turn sparkly with golden eye-shadow that matched her dress and picking out the honey-tones in her eyes.

She looked marvelous.

"If you stare any more your eyes will probably pop out, Malfoy. But on second thought that might not be so bad. Do continue."

Of course she had to opened her mouth and destroy the nice image. This was Granger he had to remind himself off. Not an object of such thoughts. They were only good acquaintances.

"Oh I wasn't looking at you," he quickly lied. "I was looking at her." He nodded his chin to a lady behind her. Unfortunately she was old enough to be his grandmother.

Granger raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow when she saw who he was talking about. Skepticism shown all over her features. "Really? Never assumed you went for the old ones. The world keeps surprising us."

"I was just admiring her vigor. She seems so alert for her age." Just then the old lady started hitting the man next to her, presumably her husband, with her handbag. Quite forcefully so!

"Vigor indeed." Granger said watching the old lady abuse her husband with amusement.

"Oh. Shut up." He said grouchily grabbing her by the arm and leading her towards their table, her grinning from ear to ear. _Good that someone has fun at my expense._

ooooo

He had so checked her out, Hermione was positive of it. It made her feel all pretty and girly, which she hadn't felt in a long time. That, plus his week attempt of a cover-up story made her grin so big that when they reached their table, her chin had started to ache.

They had ordered a table on the terrace and they could see silvery waves, coloured by the full moon, washing up on the shore. There were lit candles on each table giving the restaurant a soft atmosphere along with the torches that was placed on various places around the terrace. There were also some Latino rhythms playing in the background that was mixed with the crickets constant humming.

All around them were couples talking in soft voices and showing their affections. It was safe to say that both Malfoy and Hermione felt a bit out of place. But what would you expect on New Year's eve.

"This is awfully cozy." She said voicing her thoughts.

"Yeah, and it seems like everyone thinks we're weird because we're not holding hands." He said while giving those couple who stared at them the evil eye.

"You would think that they would have better to do than to stare at us." Hermione followed Malfoy's lead and started to counter all the stares.

At last the other tourists seemed to have gone back to themselves, but Hermione couldn't help but wonder why they all had stared at them in the first place. They didn't look so misplaced. They were two young adults who were going to eat dinner together on New Year's Eve. Could it be that these people recognized them from home? She hoped not.

"Do you think they recognized us?" She couldn't help but ask.

"No, I don't think so."

"No?"

"No."

"No." she said nodding. She didn't think there were many people outside Brittan that would recognize her as a member of the Golden Trio and him as a son of a Death Eater. They knew the story of course and Harry. But few knew the other people that were involved by names and even less knew the people by face.

"Good." She said smiling at the person in front of her, a person whom she had fought against during the war. Smiling at Draco Malfoy.

**A/N: Don't forget to check out **_**The Most Epic E-mail Conversation Ever Written **_**by ****Unicorn and Freaky.**

**And one thing I have noticed is; more reviews more ideas faster updates!**


	16. New Years Eve Part 2

**New Years Eve Part 2**

In Draco's opinion the evening had almost flew by and suddenly it was already 11.30. Dinner had been surprisingly pleasant after they had promptly ignored the stares they continued receiving. They had joked, laughed and telling each other about happy memories. Neither of them willing to take up darker subjects and depressing the evening.

At around eleven they had been asked to leave their table on the terrace so the staff could clear the terrace, making room for midnight and the New Year.

Heading to the bar and, for the evening, ballroom they had decided to let Bill make them a real New Years drink.

That's where Draco found them sitting now. Sipping his Mimosa he and Granger watched as the couples danced traditional in the middle of large open room. This evening everyone had, some way or the other, turned on a more classy look, instead of the modern-funky that usually occupied the floor and bar.

As the traditionalist that he was, Draco enjoyed the change. He liked the funky too, but it was something with the traditional dance that appealed him.

He was suddenly hit by a train of thoughts.

First out, he felt strong urge to dance. Which was totally incomprehensible! The second thought was worse than the need to dance since he realized that he didn't have a partner to dance with if he would yield to the desire. But it was the third thought that frightened him the most. He didn't want to dance with any girl. He felt the urge to dance with a specific girl, who was sitting next to him, a girl he was pretty sure of wouldn't want to dance with him.

He glanced at Granger who sat next to him and too, watched the couples dance. It was the slight glimmer of longing in her eyes that made him throw himself over the edge and into his own mental void of fear. He was now certain that he was going to commit social suicide. His father would throttle him if he knew what he was about to do.

"You want to dance Granger?" he asked softly, placing the glass on the counter behind them and lowering his head, putting up a steel barrier that would protect him from her refusal.

"I'd love to." Her answer nearly gave him a whip-flash injury as he threw his head up in ultra-speed, eyes wide with surprise.

Carefully he took her drink from her hands and placed it on the counter next to his own. Thereafter he took her right hand and ever so slowly started to lead her to the center of the dancing couples.

As they made it through the crowd he couldn't help but feel like such a ninny. What had he been so afraid of? He was Draco Malfoy. Of course he could find a dance partner. Why had he been so afraid of Hermione's refusal…?

Ooops. Had he just referred to Granger's first name? No. Or did he? No. Of course not. She wish.

Back to the main point! Why had he been afraid of her refusal? Was it because he thought it would have ruined their could-be friendship? Yeah. That seemed like a valid reason.

Happy with being able to fool even himself with those pathetic reasons he turned around facing Hermione. They now stood in the middle of a sea of dancing couples but neither of them seemed to notice.

Draco gazed into Granger's brown, honey-coloured eyes and found them utterly captivating. He had never believed what they used to say about eyes being the windows of the soul, until now. When he gazed into her eyes he could see every emotion that flickered across. He saw surprise, nervousness, content and peace.

Glad that he didn't saw any repulsive emotions, he lifted her left hand and put it on his right shoulder and holding her right one in his left. Then they started to dance.

ooooo

Hermione quickly fell in step with Malfoy. Much better than either Harry or Ron, and to that she was glad. She had always enjoyed dancing though she had claimed differently to her previous boyfriend due to the foot stepping. Malfoy didn't seem to have any problem with avoiding her feet and he didn't even have to look down (Harry style). Every time she had danced with Ron he had murdered her feet and she had always felt like party-pooper when she needed to sit down, not being able to use her mangled feet.

She and Draco on the other hand flew gracefully across the floor, in total sync. They danced like that for quite some time until they noticed that the rest of the dancing couples were on their way out to the terrace once again, this time for the fireworks.

"Shall we?" Draco asked after they had slowed down.

She nodded in response, not quite capable of expressing her voice since it felt like her heart was jumping out of her chest. It must have been because they had danced so much, right? It had nothing to do with the fact that for the last twenty minutes she had been standing in a very close proximity to a certain male. Right?

When they reached the terrace she could barely recognize it anymore. All the tables had been removed and all that was left was the dark wooden terrace floor. The torches had been dimmed to a minimum so everyone could see the crystal clear sky.

Suddenly all the people around them started to count down to the New Year.

"TEN"

"NINE"

"EIGHT"

At this point both of them had joined the chorus.

"SEVEN"

"SIX"

"FIVE"

"FOUR"'

Now Hermione felt like some rather large butterflies were having a party were her stomach should be. She couldn't be nervous about the stroke of midnight. She was Hermione Granger. She wasn't supposed to be nervous about such silly things as feelings for a

"THREE"

"TWO"

But she was.

"ONE"

Oh God. What had Draco Malfoy done to her?

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

She turned to face him. "Happy New Year Draco." It was the first time she said his name out loud. She liked how it rolled on her tongue, it felt strange but fitting.

"Happy…" he took one step closer. "…New…" She felt a couple of strong hands gently cupping her cheeks. "…Year…" he pulled even closer. "… Hermione." his lips brushed hers when he spoke her name in seductive whisper. The whole situation sent tingles down her spine.

Suddenly there was no more time to think, to analyze, to do anything but remember her breathing, as his soft lips captured hers in a New Years-kiss.

And what a New Years-kiss it was. It started agonizingly slow with just a few pecks. But soon it stood clear that it wasn't enough both of them wanted – no – needed more. The kiss deepened until Hermione's knees felt like jelly and feelings like content, anticipation and happiness flooded her whole benign.

ooooo

Neither of them did see the photographer who took a very nice picture of the two with the fireworks exploding in the background. And neither did they know what a major scandal that picture would play.


	17. The Date

**A/N: Hey everybody! Just wanted to say that I just adore all your reviews. You light up may day, you really does. It's absolutely lovely to wake up with a bunch of e-mails in my inbox!**

**I would also want you to take a peek on my lovely betas (Vicxie22) fic. It's called The School Exchange and is really great. And you know what? I'm in it! I'm super thrilled about it and it would be fun if you guys tried to guess who I am. Hint; I'm from the school they do the exchange with ;)**

**And now on with the chapter…**

**The Date**

Draco felt very happy when he led Hermione back to her hotel room a couple of hours later. He had never thought that he would kiss Hermione Granger and like it. The thought was laughable, but in some weird way true. Because he had very much indeed liked it!

He had liked how soft her pink lips were. How warm they were, and slightly moist. He had liked how her hands had flown up to his chest and slightly scratched it with her long fingers. But most of all he had liked the smile she gave him afterwards.

And now he led her back.

He didn't want this to be the end, for them to forget about the kiss and only go back to be friends. No. He wanted to at least try. It's never wrong to try.

"So we're here." Her soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"So it seems."

"Good night."

She turned around to unlock her door. It was now or never.

He reached forward and grabbed her shoulder, making her turn around to face him again.

Her curious eyes darted from his hand on her shoulder to his eyes waiting patiently for him to say something.

"I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed this."

"I'm glad you did. I liked it as well." She replied with a smile.

" Good… and I wanted to ask you if you maybe wanted to do this again? Say tomorrow? Like a date." His stomach was in a riot when he waited the seconds between his question and her reply.

"I'd love to."

He visibly relaxed. "Good. I tell you when and where tomorrow at the surfing lesson."

She groaned. She hadn't completely come to appreciate the lessons. "Do we have to?" she said with a whine.

He chuckled and gave her one of his rare, true smiles. "Yes we have to. Now Good Night." He swiftly kissed her cheek.

"Good Night." She said before disappearing inside her room. But not before Draco was able to see a slight blush covering her cheeks. He turned around and headed for his own suite with the smile still plastered on his lips.

ooooo

As Hermione walked towards the north beach for her surfing lesson she couldn't help but feel giddy and was therefore walking with an extra bounce in her step. She had felt giddy ever since she woke up and remembered that she was actually going on a date with Draco Malfoy today.

Why that fact made her giddy she didn't know. Maybe because she wanted another kiss. At that thought she actually licked her lips. Her eyes went wide when she realized what she'd just done and her face took the colouring of a tomato.

The kiss hadn't been that good!

Oh, who is she trying to fool? The kiss was marvelous! There she had said it, or thought it more likely. Draco Malfoy was a wonderful kisser. The end. She didn't have to lick her lips like a predator because of it! She had dignity for Merlin's sake!

And that's how she continued the rest of the walk to the beach. Trying to control herself from acting like a frisky teenager and embarrass herself in front of Malfoy.

ooooo

She had been able to control herself during the surf lesson but now, several hours later, the giddiness had rebuilt ten times its usual size as she waited for Draco to pick her up.

She glanced at her clock. 20.22. He was supposed to pick her up in eight minutes. Where he was taking her was a surprise and Hermione wasn't so big on surprises.

Well, she was. She just didn't like the nervousness that came before. Right now she sat on her bed with her foot bouncing constantly. Couldn't he come soon?

20.26.

He had asked her not to dress up all too much. So she had decided on a flowing deep red dress that reached her knees. It was sleeveless and had thick straps about 5 centimeters. The dress was cut both in the front and in the back and therefore showed some of her cleavage and her now nicely tanned back. It probably seemed like a really fancy dress, but truth is, it was one of the most comfortable dresses she owned.

She had let her hair loose for the evening and her natural curls rested on her back. Her light make-up was already in place and the only thing missing in her outfit was the shoes.

She couldn't decide whether to wear flats or heels. Another downside of surprises.

After almost pulling her hair in frustration she decided she would have to wait for Draco and let him make the decision.

At the same moment Hermione's shoe-savior knocked on the door.

Rising slowly from the bed she took a calming breath and went to open the door.

Outside stood a smirking Malfoy with a bouquet of white and dusky pink lilies.

"These are for you." He said in that husky but clear voice and handed her the flowers.

"Thank you. They are lovely." They really were. She had always had a week spot for lilies. But how did he know? A wild guess? Somehow she doubted that. "Come in while I put these in water." She continued and opened the door wider and stepping aside.

She walked to her coffee-table and conjured a crystal vase that she then filled with water. She took a deep breath with the flower under her nose, letting the fragrance fill her senses, before she put the flowers in the vase.

"How did you know that lilies were one of my favorite flowers?" she said turning back to him.

"I have my sources." He replied with a knowing smirk.

Her retort was an unladylike snort that made him chuckle. "Are you ready?" he asked when he was done.

"Yes. No! Wait! What shoes should I wear?"

He raised one eyebrow at her and gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was mental.

"What? I can have trouble with clothes as well, you know. And I don't even know where we're going! Should I were flats or heels?"

Instead of answering he went to her closet and started digging through the shelf with her shoes. After about a minute with Hermione standing behind him, an amused smile on her face as he was quickly disregarding her shoes one at the time whilst mumbling for himself, he found a pair he liked.

He turned around with a triumphal expression, as if he had just done something remarkable, holding a pair middle-high black heels. "Here you go."

Taking the shoes from him she sat once again on her bed and put them on. Standing up in the heels, she flattened the dress and took Draco's extended hand. "Ready to go?"

"Yes." She answered and grabbed her handbag next to the door. Not a minute later they were both walking down the hall on their way to their first date.


	18. Unexpected Visitor

**A/N: So sorry for the delay. Had a bit of a hectic week at school! I'm not going to occupy your precious time with any more ramblings I just wanna say thanks to Vicxie22 for the beta! Your rock! **

**And who want to be my 40****th**** reviewer? All you have to do to win that fabulous prize is by pressing the review button in the bottom of this chapter! Oh! And if you want you can say what you thought about the chapter there as well. ;P **

**Unexpected visitor **

They landed with the obligatory pop of apparation at the outskirts of the islands luscious rainforest. Hermione could hear the music and people before she actually saw them. Through the trees Hermione saw a little village that was cast in shadow by a couple of fires illuminating a cobblestone-square.

The square was crowded by dancing couples and in one corner was a little live band, if you even could call it a band. It was more like a gathering of people playing different instruments just for the fun and to contribute to the happy atmosphere surrounding the village.

It was so idyllic that Hermione couldn't do anything but to stand and stare for a couple of minutes. The laughter, the music, the people, everything was fantastic.

"Do you like it?" She had nearly forgotten all about his presence and their date.

"Like it? It's wonderful Draco!" She turned to him with a brilliant smile. Earlier that day she had fretted bit over what their date would be like. She had thought it would be an original dinner. And to tell the truth, she was immensely glad it wasn't.

"I'm glad. Let's go!" he grabbed her hand and started to head towards the square. "Oh, one more thing. This is a muggle village so keep your wand in your purse." He flashed a playful smile before he continued walking.

Hermione couldn't be more chocked and pleased at the same time. Firstly; Draco Malfoy was in a muggle-village. Secondly; he was the one that brought them here, and thirdly; he didn't seem to mind at all.

"_He really has changed" _Hermione mused as she followed him happily through the crowd by dancing people.

When they reached the middle of the crowd he turned around with a smile tugging at his lips. "Do you know how to dance Salsa?"

Hermione looked around at the other dancing couples and noticed that they all danced with similar dance steps. She knew that it had been a Latin-American dance they all had been dancing but she hadn't known what type of dance or if all of them danced the same dance. Now she knew. Salsa. "No. But it looks promising." She answered as the turned to meet his eyes.

He chuckled softly. "I'm glad you like it. Now come here and follow my lead and you will do fine."

Hermione did as he asked and slid into his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. He started to move slowly at first and Hermione suddenly realized that she didn't know how to dance this type of dance.

She knew the classics but this was entirely different. Draco went one way and Hermione went another. She even stepped on his toes a couple of times! She was not the kind of girl who stepped on a man's toes!

She tried to look at the other couples and how they did it, but they moved to fast for her to see how they placed their feet. Feeling utterly humiliated she looked down at their feet and tried to predict where he was going next.

It didn't go that well.

Now, she did not only feel her mistakes but saw them too. She groaned at her own inability and remembered all those times she had scolded Ron or Harry for watching their feet.

Gently Hermione tried to slide away from his embrace and run away from this awkward scene.

"Hey. Hey. Hermione look at me. Look at me." She did as he requested and found herself staring into a pair of sincere, beautiful gray eyes. "It's okay. No one's great at this sort of dance the first time they tries it."

"But I don't like sucking!" she whined quite childishly.

She was responded with a bark of laughter. "I know you don't so let's learn." He raised his arms again and Hermione stepped inside reluctantly once more.

"Now first lesson: don't look at your feet! You will only lose your own rhythm and the rhythm is everything. Feel the rhythm."

She nodded apprehensively and let the music fill her before they took off again. This time it went a little better. But she still tried to decipher how the other couples moved but to no luck.

"Look at me. Forget about them." She focused her gaze on his again and felt the rest of the world dim until there was only the two of them and the beating music left.

In this state Hermione didn't know how her feet were even working but apparently they did because she and Draco spun around gracefully across the cobblestone square until both of them were out of breath.

They stood there, still looking in each other's eyes, sharing air from their deep breaths.

Slowly as if not to scare her away he leaned in. Hermione closed her eyes and reached up on her tippy-toes to meet him halfway.

Their lips met in an explosion that contained the same heat and desire as the Latino music around them. Soon Hermione couldn't feel where his body began and hers ended. They were completely molded into each other.

"Let's get back to the hotel." She heard herself murmur when they parted for breath. She couldn't believe how forward she were, and knew that the old Hermione would never have done anything like this.

But she did not care. She was changing into this new Hermione who did as she felt like. And it felt amazing!

"Yeah. Let's do that." He murmured back before grabbing her hand and pulling her back to the side of the square, grabbing her bag, and then continuing to the edge of the forest.

Their pop of apparation was drowned by the rhythmic tones of salsa.

ooooo

Blaise Zabini smiled at the moving photo in his hand, as he had already done countless of times since he got it, and continued through the hotel in search for Draco's hotel room.

He had had the fortune of bumping into the photographer just as he had exited the ministry. The photographer had in the coalition dropped the photo that had immediately captured Blaise's eye.

The two of them had gotten into quite a chat that had ended with Blaise being a couple of hundred galleons poorer but with the photo in his possession.

Draco was so going to repay him for that later!

He reached Draco's suite and glanced down again to the picture. He smirked at the two people kissing in the picture, one blond, one brunette, before entering the suite without knocking.

Blaise eyes landed directly on the two people entwined between the white sheets still sound asleep.

His smirk turned into a wide grin. This was going to be priceless!

He softly muttered a spell that made the heavy curtains retract so that the bright morning sun flooded in through the large panorama windows and illuminated the whole room.

"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!"


	19. Morning Amusement

**A/N: I so glad you liked the last chapter! I kinda enjoyed writing the end. Mowhahaha! So what will Blaise do? Read and say what you think in a review (I have soon reached 50! OMG!). Always a huge thanks to Vicxie22!**

**Morning Amusement **

"Blaise, go away." Draco mumbled sleepily and snuggled deeper in his bed and closer to the woman next to him. Hermione. Who would have known that she was such a vixen in bed! With the feeling of contentment spreading through his chest he drifted off to sleep once more.

Just as he was on the brink consciousness a thought hit him. Why was Blaise there?

At this exact moment a feminine scream cleared all the fogginess in his head. Suddenly the entire sheet vanished with Hermione as she had thrown herself of the bed in surprise.

He can safely assume that this wasn't one of Hermione's greatest plans, because with her taking the whole sheet he, Draco Malfoy, was left completely naked on the bed with a grinning Blaise in front of him.

Oh what a lovely start of the day!

Quickly he grabbed a pillow to cover his manly parts. "Was that really necessary?" he asked Hermione as she still lay on the floor with only her head sticking up from the sheets and blushing terribly.

"Sorry that I was a bit startled! It's not every morning I wake up to find Zabini grinning down at me!"

"Oh I bet you had other things on your mind this particular morning." Blaise said amusingly whilst wiggling his eyebrows.

Hermione's face flushed once again and she grabbed a pillow and threw it in his face, before she rose, tightly clutching the sheet to her body, fetching her scattered clothes and rushed to the bathroom.

Draco would have thought this whole scene was very amusing if not for the fact that the pillow she'd grabbed was what he had used as cover.

He got up from the bed and pulled a pair of boxers from a drawer that were soon to be followed by a pair of pants.

It wasn't before he was half dressed he turned to face his best friend who was very much enjoying this..

ooooo

What on earth was Zabini doing there? Wasn't it enough having to deal with the whole awkward faze the morning after sex? Yeah, Hermione thought so, but it appeared as if the Gods had other plans. And this plan involved Zabini.

But she had to figure something out first before she took care of the Zabini-problem. What the hell were going to happen between her and Draco?

She washed her face in the sink with freezing water to help her clear her head.

Okay. What to do? What to do?

Call it a one-night stand or see if there was something more? Hermione didn't know what to do, so as usually when she was uncertain of something she made a mental pros-and-cons-list.

Starting with the pros; he was smart which made them able to have real intellectual conversations. He was unbelievably handsome, no use to denying that. He was actually kind, something she didn't think he was capable of before this holiday. He was one of the few who could out-witt her, not that she would ever admit that. He could dance and he was amazing in bed.

Yes. Hermione Granger had said it. Draco Malfoy was amazing in bed. And that was the major con. Not the sex part, but the Draco part.

The cons were that he was Draco Malfoy, same as the one who had been such an insufferable brat in school. The Draco Malfoy who had made her life a living hell. The Draco Malfoy whom she'd just slept with and whom her friends would never approve of.

But that was the only negative thing. Who he was, or more accurately who he had been. Because he wasn't the same now. He had changed or else she wouldn't have slept with him and he would definitely not have slept with her.

She had pulled on yesterday's clothes and was now trying to comb through her messy hair with her fingers. Maybe she would give him to the end of the holiday before she made such a decision. That seemed fair enough, but maybe Draco didn't want more. One night maybe was enough for him. That would do everything much easier, but she couldn't ignore the little twinge in her chest that said differently.

Realizing that her hair was a lost cause she swiftly pulled it into a bun on top of her head before leaving the sanctuary of the bathroom to face her next problem: Zabini.

ooooo

"So Granger…" Blaise was the first to break the silence.

"Yeah, don't really know how it happened but I don't regret it. You, on the other hand, don't seem so surprised. Why are you here?"

"Can't I just come by because I miss my best friend?"

"No. You usually have an agenda when you turn up this way."

"I guess you're right. But I would very much enjoy hearing the whole story later." The persistent look Blaise was giving him let Draco know that he wouldn't get out of this one.

"So what brought you here?"

The bathroom door opened to reveal a determent looking Hermione.

"Yes, why are you here?" she asked suspiciously.

"This actually concerns you both." Blaise said as he watched them knowingly.

Both Hermione and Draco narrowed their eyebrows in suspicion.

"It has come to my intention that you two had a fabulous New Years Eve…"

Draco turned to Hermione, thinking of a particular incident that he remembered quite clearly. Apparently Hermione had similar thoughts in mind because she had turned to him as well, her eyes glowing with nervousness.

When neither of them answered Blaise continued "Maybe this will help you remember." And then he took a picture out of his jacket.

In the picture there were two people kissing, two people that were eerie similar himself and the woman next to him.

ooooo

The woman in question gasped as she saw a photo evidence of that there were a thing between her and Draco. How had Zabini gotten that picture? Were there more? Please, please let that be the only copy! She didn't know what she would have done if Ron would have found out that way!

"Relax. This is the only copy. I had to buy it from the photographer for a not so reasonable amount to make him sign some document saying that I now own all the copy's done and all the copy's that will be. But I thought that you would like to know and it was not like I could send an owl."

She felt the urge to jump up and hug the Italian but she resisted. This was not the time. She was still a little grumpy and embarrassed over how he had found them but she could understand why he didn't send an owl. Partly because of the distance and partly because of what would happen if it had been intercepted by a reporter. She shuddered at the thought of the picture in Rita Skeeter hands.

"Are you okay?" she heard Draco ask.

"Rita Skeeter." Was all she said. And it seemed like she didn't have to explain it any further since she could see both boys visibly shudder.

The silence that followed was broken a couple of minutes later by an owl picking at the glass-balcony door. She went up to get it since no one else seemed to even take notice of the owl.

Opening the door the eagle owl swooped in and situated itself on the back of a chair and patiently stretched its leg where a letter was attached. She petted the express-owl who seemed to have flown a long way before taking the letter.

_Hermione_ it said on the envelope, written in Ginny's fast scrawl. She opened it and read the short note.

_Hermione!_

_You get your ass over to a fireplace right this instant and give me a CALL!_

_Do it now!_

_An impatient Ginny_

Ouch. That could not be good.

"Who was the letter from?" Zabini asked, his voice sounding curious.

"Ginny. She wants me to call her. Can I use your floo?" the last part she directed to Draco.

"Sure. We will go down to breakfast. Come when you're done?"

"Okay."

He pulled on a shirt before heading out after Zabini leaving Hermione alone in the suite.

She walked to the fireplace and ignited it with her wand. When the fire was burning steadily she took a fist of purple powder, the one that was used for calls, and threw it in saying Ginny Weasely's apartment London clearly.

Two seconds later she faced her temperamental red-headed friend in a heap of purple flames.

This was going to be absolutely lovely…


	20. Conversations

**A/N: Remember about a month ago when I complained about not having snow? **

**I take that back. We're expecting a blizzard… Oh joy…**

**And congrats **_**ohsobrilliant**_** for being my 50****th**** reviewer! I can't believe that I have reached, and passed 50. It's huge! Thank you so much everyone! My goal is 100. It might seem impossible but I like to set my goals high, and now am halfway right? With your help nothing is impossible! ;P**

**Conversations **

As soon as Draco had closed the door behind him he knew that he would become a helpless victim of Blaise's inquisitions. And Merlin he was good at that! He could pry out almost everything a man tried to hide without Veritaserum, and it was most convenient at times.

Now… not so much!

"Finally alone." Blaise said sighing with an evil smile. "Now if you please, tell me everything from the beginning."

"You're like a snoopy school-girl, you know that?" he answered grumpily. He knew it was inventible, and it would only be a matter of time before Blaise had pried it out of him, but that didn't made him resent it less.

Cunning little Slytherin! He loved his old house, he really did, and it was fun to use those abilities that they had learned during those years to achieve his ends. But he didn't like to be on the receiving end of it! It wasn't in his nature to talk about his feelings and especially not feelings concerning women.

He might as well get on with it…

"We met on Christmas Eve in the hotel bar where we kind of challenge each other who could drink the most. I won." He smirked at this last bit thinking back, but when he saw Blaise's questioning eyebrow he stopped and continued to tell his story.

"Since she lost, she had to, as a punishment…" he was cut off by Blaise.

"Punishment? What are you twelve?"

Draco grumped. Maybe it had been a bit childish, but hello? They had been drunk! "Do you want to hear the story or not? Because I have no problem with ending this little story time right now."

"No, no, please continue."

They had reached the restaurant and were now looking for a private table. It wasn't until they were seated in a remote but sunny corner that Draco continued.

"Her punishment was to surf in a toga."

Blaise interrupted him again, this time with a snort. "Surfing in a toga? What a pathetic punishment! What have happened to Draco Malfoy, the prank master?"

"I was drunk, okay! Anyhow, what she had neglected to mention was that she actually couldn't surf, so she ended up nearly drowning. I saved her and after that we have had surfing lessons every day. On New Year's Eve we decided we didn't want to go alone so we went together. I asked her out on a date yesterday and I think you know how that went."

"Wow, that was short? Something else you wish to tell me?"

"I can't possibly think of something."

"Oh, but I think you do. I think it has something to do with… developing feelings for Granger. No?

Oh crap. Draco knew this was coming. The only thing was that he didn't know what his feelings were. "I don't know okay! I'm stuck. I'm thorn. I never thought I would say this but Hermione's fun to be around! She's smart, not the usual bimbo, you know.

"But at the same time, it's Granger we're talking about. One third of the Golden Trio, Weasel's ex for Merlin's sake!" Draco continued in frustration.

Blaise was silent for a couple of minutes as Draco's explanations hang heavy in the air.

"Mate… It seems to me like you have a dilemma."

ooooo

"Err… Hello Ginny. How was your holiday?" Hermione started awkwardly.

"Don't you dare Hermione Jean Granger! You can't just owl me and say that you're spending time with Malfoy and just leave it like that! Do you know how curious I was? Still am! You are going to tell me everything missy!"

"Geez, you really go straight to the point do you?" She was slightly taken aback by the fire in Ginny's little speech, and quite frankly she didn't know what to say to her.

"You know I do, so quit stalling!"

"Well we sort of met in the hotel bar on Christmas Eve. He was as insufferable as always and before the night was over we had in some way gotten into a drinking challenge."

"You. In a drinking challenge? What were you thinking Hermione? With Malfoy! Was it fun?"

"Ginny! First you reprimand me, and then you're asking me if it was fun! Have you grown multiple personalities during these two weeks I have been gone?"

"Haha. Very funny. Continue now so can we go over all your errors later." Ginny waived in the purple flames and indicated that Hermione should continue. Whether or not she thought that Hermione had done anything wrong she was too curious to not hear the whole story.

"Yeah, so… I lost the contest-" she was interrupted by Ginny's loud snort which Hermione regarded with a glare but otherwise continued. "So as a punishment I had to surf in a toga."

"But Hermione, you don't surf, and in a toga? That's just ridiculous!"

"I'm very well aware of that, thank you Ginny." Hermione said sarcastically.

"So what happened?"

"I almost drowned because of that stupid challenge! That's what happened!"

"But yet you sit here, so apparently you were saved, but by whom? No! Wait don't tell me! It was Malfoy, right? I'm, aren't I? "

"Yes, you're right" Hermione mumbled grumpily.

"And?"

"And nothing more happened… that night…" the last part she mumbled under her breath.

"But you wrote in your letter that you would go to dinner with him on New Year's Eve!"

"Yes, and I did. After that incident he had this absurd idea that he would teach me how to surf so that it wouldn't happen again. So, every day we have had surfing lessons and that has sort of made us friends. And neither of us wanted to spend New Year's Eve alone so we went out together."

Ginny looked dumb-stuck at Hermione. When she didn't say anything for a minute Hermione started to be nervous. "Ginny… You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I thought you said that you were friends with Malfoy?"

"Yes I am. He's actually quite fun to be around. Nothing like Harry or Ron, but in a good way."

"I'm shocked, but happy for you." Ginny said with a smile. "But are you sure you're not just doing this to enrage Harry and Ron?"

"Actually I haven't thought about it that way. But who are they to judge who I'm friends with or not? Can't I be friends with them both?"

"According to their opinion, no." Ginny said sincerely and Hermione knew she was right. She hid her face in her hands and groaned loudly.

There was silence for a moment before Ginny interrupted her self-pity moment. "Hermione? Why are you dressed in a dress like that this early in the morning and why is your hair tousled?"

"Ehmm…" Hermione started awkwardly, slowly peeking above her hands. "On New Year's Eve we sort of kissed at the stoke of twelve. And when he walked me back to my room he asked me out on a date."

"He did what!"

"So yesterday we went out on a date, danced, and then we went back to his room and… do I really need to describe this to you? I'm still here."

"Hermione! You had…" she abruptly cut herself off and turned around. "Shit! It's Harry, and I guess you don't want to explain all this to him."

Hermione shook her head frantically. No she really didn't.

"But don't think we're done missy! I want to hear every detail!" and with that she disconnected her floo leaving Hermione staring at an ordinary fire.

"Bye Ginny."

**A/N: Sorry 'bout the delay, had a little writers block as I didn't knew how to top the last two chapters. In the end I just wrote what popped into my head, hope you like it!**

**And I just can't believe that it's already chapter 20! OMG I'm thrilled!**

**Review! **


	21. Watch Out For Decapitation

**A/N: Look at this, chapter 21 up before the week is done! I'm quite proud of myself actually. Now let's not dwell on my lack of real life that makes me able to update this often, let's get on with the chapter. **

**Thanks again to Vicxie22 for the beta, don't know what I would do without you!**

**Watch Out For Decapitation**

Hermione walked into the hotels breakfast restaurant after her call with Ginny, looking for Draco and Zabini. Her call to Ginny had gone surprisingly well, sure she had been yelled at a couple of times. But after all, that was to be expected in a conversation with Ginny, especially when you told her something special.

Hermione thought that you could call sex with Draco special. It had truly been marvellous. Hot and sweaty, purely physical. Some way he had found all her right spots, making her body explode like only Ron had managed to do on a couple of occasions. Even now when she thought back, she felt her body lit up and tingle in different places making her cheeks flush with colour.

With a blush still prominent on her cheeks she spotted them sitting in a selective corner. Heading over to them she took a few deep, calming breaths not really knowing how this meal would turn out. She reached the table with a tentative smile.

"Hi."

"Look! The lost girl returns! Weaselette didn't cut your head off?" Blaise said happily.

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she's a Weasel? And everybody knows they're famous for their temper." Draco said, choosing to enter the conversation.

She turned to look at him and was met by his steel-gray eyes, his fine blond hair falling slightly in the way and obstructing the view. Suddenly an overwhelming urge to stroke away that bang filled her, causing her to concentrate all her will not to reach out and touch it with her hand.

"Yeah! You're right!" she said, laughing bubbling up inside her, still fighting the urge. "You should have seen Ron's temper when I broke up with him! He was exploding! But don't worry though, Ginny is the most forgiving one. She's actually the only one talking to me..." Her head fell down in defeat and her laugher died somewhere in the middle of her speech.

Shaking off the sudden sadness she lifted her head, only to be met by two sets of eyes. One steel-gray set showing concern, and one deep brown set that was glistering with amusement.

_Bloody Slytherin!_

"You don't have to think about them when you're with such a funny and handsome guy like myself! You even have the albino here to cheer you up!" Blaise said waiving at Draco who sat at his right and flashed a bright smile.

"Hey! Who are you calling a albino? I have actually a tan now! See, see!" Draco shoved his arm up in Blaise's face. The whole scene was like watching a ridiculous fight between teenagers and it drew Hermione quickly out of her brief negative zone.

"Are you two always acting like this?"

"Yup." Both said at the same time which made Hermione let out a little chuckle.

"What are you going to order?" Draco asked her and therefore changing the subject form their childish antics.

"A cream-cheese bagel I think I will have today. And some orange juice and tea. Can't stand a morning without those two."

Draco waved a waiter over and gave him Hermione's order plus a cup of coffee for himself.

"Sure you don't want anything?" Draco asked his friend again.

"Yeah, I should actually go and call Pansy. That's a woman who won't hesitate cut my head off if she thinks I hide something."

"I feel sorry for you mate. She's going to eat you alive someday."

"Yeah, but the sex is great!"

"Did so not want to hear that!" Draco said and childishly covered his ears. Blaise only chuckled and bid Hermione good bye for now and strolled away.

"I gather they're together?" Hermione asked Draco one he'd let go off his ears.

"Yes, for about two years. They're great together, but I still don't like thinking them having sex. Pansy's like my little sister and both of them is my best friends..."

"I know what you mean," Hermione said, having gone through this conversation with Ron when Ginny and Harry had officially started dating. "But it's their choice and you don't have any say in that. Let them be, they sound happy." She continued.

"Yeah, I know. But it still creeps me out." He said in defeat.

She was about to say that he should just swallow his pride but right then the waiter returned with her food so she decided to drop the subject and having a nice meal instead.

ooooo

"Draco did what!" Pansy's high-pitched yell echoed through the fireplace.

"He slept with Granger." Blaise answered calmly but with a prominent smile tugging at his lips.

"He... slept... Granger? Wow!"

"I know. Never thought you would see the day, would you? The day when Draco slept with a muggleborn. But I actually think they're good together, though, at least they seem at ease with each other company. And even if they aren't together, yet, I have no doubt that they will be, and that soon."

"No I really didn't. But if he's happy, I'm happy. It was really about time he found someone, even if it was Granger. I don't think I could stand another dinner with one of those bimbos he brought."

"Neither could I, my love, neither could I."

ooooo

In the afternoon that same day, Blaise found himself in one of the many sun beds watching as Draco tried to teach Hermione how to surf.

They had been going on for about half an hour and right now they sat on their boards bobbing up and down in the pristine water. Granger could surf, maybe, half of the wave before she fell off, and when she reached the surface again she was always equally pissed for failing.

Even Blaise knew that you couldn't learn how to surf properly in a mere two weeks, but Granger would hear nothing of it. He didn't understand how Draco managed to be so patient. He usually wasn't that kind of person, generally he was the opposite. But with Granger he seemed to have unlimited resources of patience.

A smirk crept up on his lips as the wind carried faint traces of their argument out on the ocean.

"They're quite nice together, aren't they?" a male voice asked behind him.

"Yes, yes they are." Blaise answered a bit puzzled and turned over to see who was talking to him. "And you are?" He asked after detecting a middle-aged man in waiters' suit.

"Ah, how rude of me. My name is Bill."

"And how do you know them?" Blaise asked, still a bit sceptic against this Bill.

"Why, yes I met them in the bar, I'm a bartender you see."

"Is that so..." Blaise mused as an idea began to form in his mind. "Do this place lease out a catamaran?"

"Yes, it's the one over there." Bill said and pointed at the large sailboat at the pier a kilometre to the left.

"Do you think you could rent that for me this afternoon? I would like to take our two lovebirds out on a trip."

"What an excellent idea! I will go and fix that right away sir."

Blaise watched as Bill walked towards the pier so he didn't notice that both Draco and Granger was done with their lesson and was headed towards him.

"Everything alright there mate? You seem a bit out of it." Draco said as he grabbed a towel and started to dry himself off.

"Was that Bill walking away from here?" Granger asked a second later.

"Yes, everything is in order and as for Bill... Let's just say that he went to fix a surprise for us this afternoon." Blaise answered and smiled as he saw the two's perplexed expressions.


	22. Set Sail

**A/N: Not a very eventful chapter but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! Always thanks to Vicxie22 and please review. Those reviews light up my day!**

**Thanks to **_**Moonlight Calls**_** who detected some mistakes in the previous chapter. I like to know when I have done something wrong, so I can fix it and become a better writer. Constructive criticism is much appreciated!**

**Set Sail**

Draco was in his room and packed a bag with stuff he might need for the afternoon. He still hadn't a clue what Blaise was up to, but he also knew that it was best to play along. Even if it was just so he could see his friend happy.

He went to the bathroom and gathered a towel and preformed a sun protection-spell in himself. He couldn't go outside without one thanks to his pale complexion, if he did he would be as pink as a pig before the day was over. However, with the right spells frequently reinforced he had managed to get a nice little tan. His skin shone with a slight gold-tone now instead of the silver one he usually had.

That albino joke Blaise had pulled earlier in the day was uncalled for! Blaise knew Draco tried really hard to gain a tan and didn't like being called an albino, and in front of Hermione none the less!

That had really been uncalled for!

Done with his necessities in the bathroom he returned to the main room to grab his bag which lay next to the closet. Tucking the towel inside he grabbed the bag and left his suite to go and pick up Hermione.

He still didn't know what to do about their situation. Back in England they lived completely different lives but here... Here they could just be themselves and he had found out that he enjoyed it immensely.

So maybe they should remain whatever they had become during the rest of their stay here? Try it out, see if they could stand each other for more than a couple of days without trying to kill each other. At the same time as he thought that he knew it was bullshit. They had been friends for nearly one and a half week and he knew, without doubt, that their personalities clicked.

But to try it out he thought they could manage. See if it even was worth giving it a try after they returned to London. It was only four short days left.

Draco had reached Hermione's door and remembered that he had left her out of his equation. That wasn't so well planned, not calculating her emotions and interests since it took two to dance tango.

Well he would just have to have _the_ _conversation_ with her. He had never been the one who brought _the_ _conversation_ up with his previous girlfriends. And whenever they had brought it up he had been sure to end both the conversation and relationship. He didn't like when something like that was pushed upon him and that was what made him so surprised. That he actually thought about starting that conversation and not running away by the mere thought.

"_No turning back now"_ he thought as he took a deep breath and knocked on her door.

ooooo

"You expect us to control _that_?" Hermione asked flabbergasted.

"On our own?" Draco contributed.

They were both watching a 50 feet large sailboat, catamaran style, with wide eyes.

"Yes I do. With my expertise of course." Blaise said standing between them and the large

sailboat.

"But, Blaise..." Draco stated again. "You can't sail."

"Ever heard of a thing called magic my friend?" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in

the world and turned walking towards the boat. "Better get going!" he yelled over his shoulder to the two who was still standing rooted to the same spot as they had stood when Blaise had announced his surprise.

Hermione looked over at Draco who shrugged his shoulders and started to follow Blaise. Hermione sighted and joined the other two. Maybe during the little trip she could clear her head and get a clear picture of what was going on between her and Malfoy.

They had started to have _the conversation_ when he had come to pick her up a few minutes prior, but they hadn't had much chance to talk before Blaise had found them and dragged them to the pier where they were now standing.

Maybe that was for the best. If she were able to collect her thoughts before such a conversation everything would run more smoothly.

Or, she was just scared. Scared for the outcome, scared for his reaction, scared for her own reaction.

She had reached the boat and gave her beach bag to Blaise who took it and placed it with the other bags in the main cabin. Whereas Draco took her hand and helped her into the boat; not that the boat was unsteady and he helped her not to fall, no it was the gesture of a gentleman.

She smiled at him when she was safely in the boat and reached up in her tip-toes and placed a light kiss on his cheek as thanks. It was not until she had stepped back again that Hermione remembered that everything she did could affect the outcome of this – could be – relationship.

Blushing Hermione backed away, though a little smile still played on her lips. She looked into his eyes and found them slightly wide with surprise but also radiating warmth. Briefly she was astonished of how the colour gray could be so warm. She had never connected the colour with warmth before, but his eyes seemed to be illuminated from within with a passion she hadn't never seen before. It made her warm and tingly all over.

"Hey lovebirds! Get you wands ready because it's time to get this baby out on the ocean!" Blaise called from the front of the boat where he loosened some ropes and got it ready to weigh anchor.

As much as Hermione had come to like Blaise's carefree and easygoing personality over the day he still had the habit of interrupting good moments. In just a half a day he had walked in on them after sex, interrupted their -about to be- conversation, and now he interrupted them again.

Merlin he could be infuriating!

Draco gave her a lopsided grin before he turned to the gunwale and removed some ropes as well.

"What do you want me to do?" she yelled back at Blaise who were still standing in the front, now holding the ropes instead of untying them.

"Come here, you can take over my spot." He yelled back.

Carefully she walked to the front, nearly tripping as she saw that the two front points of the catamaran were connected only with a net.

"What have you done with the floor?" she asked Blaise angrily when she finally reached him, having had quite a difficult time not to get stuck in all the ropes that lay across the walk-able part. She had no intention of stepping on the net.

"You're supposed to rest there, feeling the water splash onto your back as we sail. Have you never been on a sailboat before?" he asked as he gave her the ropes.

"Of course I have! It was just not this big..."

"Well enjoy it, because it's not often you sail with a baby like this." He patted the gunwale and walked to leave. "When I say, throw the ropes onto the pier okay?"

"Okay." She turned and looked sceptically on the net. Was you really supposed to just relax there? What if it broke? Then you would fall right down to the ocean.

Suddenly the whole boat started to hum, indicating that the engine had been started. Hermione thought that they would use the engine until they were out on more clear waters, then they would set the sails.

"Throw the ropes now!" Blaise called from the back of the boat where he stood behind a big wheel, nearly as big as he was.

After throwing the ropes onto the pier, Hermione made her way back to Draco and Blaise who were both standing watching out over the shining waters.

She had to agree, it was simply breathtaking! Letting the boys have some alone time Hermione snuck into the large cabin before grabbing her sun beach bag and changed into her bikini.

She was not able to go nowhere so she might as well work on her tan.


	23. Water Games

**A/N: Hello everyone! This may be the last chapter before I go on holiday. I will try really hard to get one more up before next Saturday but I am afraid that school might burry me this week. Either way, I will have time to write a couple of chapters whilst on my ski trip in Austria but I'm not sure if I will be able to post it…**

**Keep faith and always thanks to Vicxie22**

**Water games**

They had sailed for an hour and now they had cast the anchor so they could enjoy a bit of peace and relax. The ride had been quite eventful and hectic as neither of them really had an idea of how to actually sail.

Merlin knows what they would have done without their wands! Hermione didn't think that they would have lasted for five minutes. Fortunately Draco had found a manual in the cabin that explained which spell to use at each part of the boat.

Had she mentioned how much she loved magic?

Even with those spells everything didn't work as well as they had hoped. At one time both Blaise and Draco had said the same spell which was supposed to strain the foresail. Instead the sail had started to twirl and it had nearly taken them ten minutes to make it stop and to set it into the way it was intended to in the first place.

The net in front of the catamaran had looked more and more alluring as the trip went on and after they had stopped she had very tentatively crawled out on the net. It had been terribly wobbly and she had had her eyes half closed all the way out, but it had been worth it. Once she lay down the wobbling had stopped and she could truly enjoy the mid-afternoon sun.

The net was wonderful in other aspects as well besides being a great place for her to work on her tan. It shaped itself after her body and created a perfect sun bed, also the net allowed air pass through from beneath her and helped her not to be over-heated.

But the net could only do as much. After maybe an hour Hermione felt like she was going to combust because of the heat. "Hot." She said aloud and considered if she could manage the sun a couple of minutes more or if she needed to take a swim.

"I know. I always am." A voice said from behind her. She cracked an eye opened and squinted in the bright light until she saw Draco standing just beside the net.

Smiling at his self-centered comment she lay back down and patted beside her, wanting him to lay down beside her.

"Actually I was going to take a swim and I was wondering if you would like to join me? I need to cool this hot body you know." He said with a smirk and a glint in his eye.

"Why not, I'm already burning up so…" she rolled around on her stomach and started to crawl towards where Draco was standing.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Getting off this thing!" Hermione answered determinedly and crawled the remaining part. A hand grabbed her upper arm helped her up on her feet once she was close enough. She sent him a smile and then started to rub her back which she suspected was covered with tiny markings from the net.

"Nice back," He said jokingly when he saw it. "Maybe we can play chess on it later."

_Bingo. Suspicion confirmed. _

"Haha." She said dryly and started walking towards the back of the boat where the latter was.

"Where are you going?" he asked confused.

"I'm going to take a swim like you suggested Mr. Inquisitive!"

"Duh. I knew that I was just wondering where you was heading?"

"To the back, where the latter are." She answered back, silently wondering if he had gone mental.

"No, you don't." he said and she didn't like the mischievous glint in his eye.

Suddenly she was picked up and hanged over Draco's shoulder.

"You put me down right now Mister!" she said sternly whilst panicking slightly.

"I don't think so." He laughed and started walking towards the gunwale. To say that Hermione's panic was increasing was an understatement.

She banged on his back with her hands and started kicking with her legs like a four-year old. He was going to throw her out of the boat! Out of the boat! His laughter only made her kick even more vehemently.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" Draco said all in one breath and jumped off the boat, taking both of them to a certain swim.

The water splashed around them and once in the water Draco let her go so she could swim towards to surface. When she reached the surface she took a few deep shocked breaths. Draco's laugher reached through her semi-panicked state of being thrown overboard, and not even a second later she had sent a large splash of water towards him. The mini tsunami caught him by surprise and sent him into a coughing fit.

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh. _Revenge is sweet!_

ooooo

The little water fight had continued during the whole swim and twenty minutes later they were completely exhausted and sprawled out across catamarans net. A silence had settled over them and both were just enjoying the late afternoon sun.

After some time of comfortable silence Hermione spoke;

"I think we need to talk."

"Hmmm?" Draco asked, still in a post-exhausted state after the water fight and lulled sleepy by the catamarans slight bobbing.

"I think it's time we talk about us." She clarified.

Slowly sitting up Draco turned to her. "I guess you're right."

She ran a hand through her hair. "So… I've been thinking. Maybe we should try." She said nervously.

"I've thought the same thing. I mean we have fun together. Why shouldn't we at least try it out?" he hastily said not wanting to make her feel even more nervous,

"Precisely!" Her face glowing with joy. "When do you return to England?" she continued.

"Four days. You?"

"Same. But we should try it back home too, right?" she asked sounding a tad nervous.

"I think so! It's going to be tougher though, and we will receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of attention. But what's life without sacrifices?"

"I know, but hopefully it will be worth it." She smiled at him and he saw her cheeks take on a slight blush.

She was quite endearing when she blushed Draco mused and reached out and cupped her cheek. He pulled her face towards him and gave her a kiss as a start of their relationship.

ooooo

Blaise peeked through the main cabins windows and saw the two lovebirds kiss after having a, by the look of it, serious conversation. He smirked at himself. He truly was a genius.


	24. London

**A/N: Yeay! I got it up before my trip and thanks to Vicxie22 for doing the beta. Hope you'll like the chapter and as always feel free to drop a review! :P**

**London**

The next four days passed in a blur and Hermione actually felt a bit queasy when she woke up on the day for their departure.

Merlin knows what will happen to them when they were back in London.

How would everyone react? How would her friends react?

She didn't even want to think about it and luckily she had a valid distraction. Carefully she turned to the handsome man sleeping next to her. During the night it seemed like he had subconsciously gathered all the sheets and pillows which now they lay haphazardly around him.

The expression on his face could only be described as content and she couldn't help but to crack a smile at his relaxed sleeping form. So much had changed since Hogwarts.

Never in a million years had she thought that she would attempt a relationship with Draco Malfoy, her old school-nemesis. It was amazing how old prejudiced could be put aside so quickly, it had only been a couple of weeks. She wouldn't have thought it was possible before it happened to herself, but then again she probably never would have tried.

Nevertheless the probability, she was happy that it had happened.

Hermione leaned closer and stroke away the bangs that covered his eyes. She remembered that she had had the same felling, urge a few days ago but back then she hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Now on the other hand she was free to do as she pleased. He was her… boyfriend? _Merlin that sounded weird! Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger's boyfriend._ Though it still didn't feel like they were boyfriend-girlfriend.

She couldn't really see them as a cuddly-duddly couple, more on the terms of a strong, personal pillar, your rock in life. The one that you always could count on.

Before she had always thought that Harry and Ron where that kind of people, that they would always stand by her no matter what. They had disappointed her.

She had been afraid of just this sort of thing when she first started to date Ron. She even told him about her suspicions but he had reassured her that that would never happen.

But it did. And look where it had led her to. Into a new relationship, to a new personal solid rock. If they were able to conquer whatever London threw at them. If being the key-word.

Suddenly a pale arm was wrapped around her waist and pulling her into the pile of pillows and sheets. She nuzzled closer to him and giggled softly into one of the pillows.

"Have you mother never told you that it is rude to stare?" Draco asked her in a voice hoarse with sleep.

"Yes she has, but I wasn't staring I was observing. Two totally different things."

He popped himself up on his elbow before retouring; "And you 'observe' me sleeping why?"

"I just thought about some stuff." He raised an eyebrow at this but did not ask. When it was clear that she wouldn't explain it more thoroughly he decided to change the subject.

"What time is it?"

Hermione had to push a pillow away to be able to see the digits that her wand produced as soon as it was placed on the nightstand. "Almost ten."

"And our portkey left at one right?"

"Yepp. Maybe it's time to get ready."

"Yeah, I think so."

ooooo

"Ready?" Blaise asked when they all had gathered around the portkey getting ready to leave. They were standing in the hotel's travel terminal where all portkey travel had its arrival and departure. One hand was holding their bags and the other were touching the silver plate that served as portkey.

Hermione sighed and nodded. She was truly going to miss this place, long beaches, pristine waters, and the easy-going rhythm of the Caribbean. Beside her Draco nodded as well.

The usual surge pulled in her belly when the portkey twirled and took off on schedule. With a heap they arrived at the Ministry's International Terminal for international portkey travels.

Back in good old England.

"Good to be back, right?" Blaise spoke with a grin once they all emerged from the terminal. "But I better get going, Pansy's waiting. See you soon I suppose."

"Bye mate."

"Bye"

As he left an awkward silence broke out, neither of them really knew what to do.

"So…" Draco began tentatively. "What happens now?"

"I thought we already covered this? We were going to try, weren't we?" Hermione answered and turned to face him fully, nervousness filling her eyes with the thought that he had second thoughts once on English ground.

"Yes, of course! That's not what I meant." He said softly squeezing her shoulder. "I mean should we start with stuff like going out, or should we be more, I don't know… discrete? Because either way I would like to have dinner with you tonight."

She detected a mischievous glint in his eyes that made her suspect that he didn't only have dinner in mind for the evening.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we kept a low profile for now, besides I don't think I have the strength to go out."

The crestfallen look on his face almost made her crack up. She leaned forward and spoke the next couple of words with a seductive hot breath against his ear and neck.

"But you can come by my place if you want. Maybe we even can order a pizza. If we got time, that is."

He tensed up beside her and now she couldn't contain her grin anymore. She loved that she had that effect on him, and that's why she jumped to every chance she get to play seductive. She had never quite done it before in the right way and it made her feel wanted and sexy, two pretty new feelings to her.

"Follow me." She breathed again and let breath tickle his neck a little longer before pulling back and heading to the floos. Hermione didn't turn around to check if he was coming, she knew he wouldn't miss it.

ooooo

"Draco, can you take it? I'm in the bathroom." Hermione yelled.

"Sure." He yelled back and went to open the door to pay for the pizza. They had arrived at her flat shortly after her little seduction stunt at the Ministry earlier in the afternoon. And it was safe to say that they had been quite busy since. But she had kept her promise and had ordered some much needed food.

He absently opened the door whilst pulling out a couple of galleons from his purse, but froze instantly once he saw who was standing on the other side.

Not the pizza delivery-guy, but Potty and Weasel.

"Draco have you gotten the pizza yet?" Hermione said as she emerged from the bathroom only clad in a bathrobe.

Neither of them at the door had said a word or even moved an inch. The shock seemed to have frozen the three of them to the ground.

Hermione came around to see what took so long with the pizza and froze mid-stride once she saw them.

"Oh…" he started to say when he finally found his ability to speak, but was cut off with Hermione who finished his statement.

"Fuck."


	25. The Argument

**A/N: Hello darlings! Long time, no see. Okay maybe a week's not that long but anyway hope you all had a wonderful week. I know I did. Don't you just love school breaks? Skiing in Saalbach, Austria, was wonderful and besides giving me freckles it made me think about some new plot-twisters. Nice huh? ;P**

**The Argument**

"Ron, do you know what Malfoy is doing in Hermione's apartment?"

"Haven't the foggiest."

They were still standing immobilized just outside her front door. Her two best friends. The remaining two thirds of the Golden Trio, besides herself. They were standing outside in the entrance hall door seeing Draco casually leaning against the door and herself standing behind him only clad in a bathrobe!

_Oh. My. Sweet. Merlin! _

"Hi Harry. Hi Ron… What are you doing here?" Hermione began tentatively.

"We came here to see how you had been and to help you unpack, but I see you already have someone to help you with that." Harry responded in a monotone voice, as if he didn't really understand it all. Ron was still standing dumb folded with his mouth slightly agape.

Frankly she didn't know what the two of them were doing there, on her doorstep! They weren't exactly on speaking terms before she left, but maybe the holidays had made them realize it had gone too far. Nah… that didn't sound like them at all, still she had to say something.

"Um… yes well… Draco and I-" Hermione started, feeling the need to explain herself, but she was abruptly cut off by Ron who had been unusually quiet thus far.

"Draco and I! DRACO AND I!"

_Ah. That's the Ron we all know and love. No, not love, love. Love like friendship love… you know. _

"Since when do you refer to him as _'Draco'_," he altered his voice at his name in an amazingly bad imitation of herself. "And what's he doing in your apartment? I demand an answer Hermione!"

"You demand and answer? Demand!" She started to get truly aggravated. Who was he to think he could control her life! "Who do you think you are Ronald Weasely?"

"Yes I _demand_ an answer, as you boy-"

"Don't you dare finish that statement! We are not together, nor will we ever be again. We broke up months ago for Merlin's sake!" Now she was angry for real and she could feel her face get more flustered with each word she spoke.

She felt a hand place itself on the small of her back. She looked back and saw Draco looking into her eyes, giving her calm and supporting glance. Instantly she felt more relaxed and took a few deep calming breaths before she turned back to face Ron, who had turned livid.

"What are you doing? Get your filthy hands off her Ferretface!"

"No." Draco said and his tone made it clear that he wasn't going to back off but at the same time he didn't want to rush into a conversation that ran much deeper that what it looked like.

The conversation could be compared to an iceberg, only a small part was visible for the spectators. For Hermione and Ron however this was the continuance of their break-up fight that never properly ended.

"Why don't we take this inside?" Harry asked after looking over his shoulders for some nosy neighbours.

"Okay," Hermione said with a sigh and moved so she wouldn't stand in front of the door. As soon as she said this Ron stalked past them and headed straight for the living room without looking back.

Harry looked exhaustingly after him. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I truly am. He... He's having a hard time and seeing you with him," He nodded his chin towards Draco. "Well it didn't make it any easier. I don't like it, and hopefully it's because I don't understand it. Either way it's good to have you back and I'm sorry for everything, I've missed you." He ended his little speech with giving her a bear-hug.

She hugged him back as tightly as she could, having missed him the last couple of months. Ever since the break-up they had drifted apart and she had hated it. "I've missed you too."

Pulling apart she swiftly dried her eyes who were threatening to break with the sleeve on her bathrobe. She cracked an awkward smile which was returned with Harry's usual grin.

"I just need to talk to Draco for a few moments and maybe get dressed, okay?"

"Sure, I'll try to keep him calm."

"Thanks Harry."

"No problem." Then also he turned around and headed for the living room.

ooooo

Draco followed Hermione to her bedroom and shut the door closely behind him. She went directly over to her bed and sat heavily, resting her head in her hands.

"That was intense." he said before he turned to the door again and cast a quick silencing charm. One could never be careful enough with Potty and Weasel in the house.

"No kidding."

He went to sit beside her and gently put an arm around her shoulders. She looked like she was ready to break apart. She sat hunched and the tears that threatened to come during Potter's little speech ran freely now. Draco pulled her even closer, letting her grab and cry into his shirt like it was a lifeline, and rested his cheek on top of her head.

"How are you feeling?" he murmured against her unruly hair.

"I- I don't know why h-he has to take this so bad! He's impossible!" she hiccupped.

"He's a moron, but he will come around," At least that was what Draco hoped. The Weasely temper was infamous. "You got Potter now though."

"Not yet. He will need to hear the whole story and then think about it for a couple of days before he changes his mind. That's how he works. But I hope maybe Ginny will be able to make him accept it quicker." Her tears had stilled and so had the hiccups.

They sat there for a few more seconds in silence, Hermione seemed lost in thought and he didn't know what to say. Then she looked up from his chest and he could see her eyes gleam with something that wasn't there a second ago.

"We need a meddler."

"Huh?" came his intelligent response.

"A meddler, who can contain both parties relatively calm. Someone who can make sure we actually come through the awaiting conversations."

Draco pondered about this, letting it roll around in his mind. It made a lot of sense. He had actually wondered how they would be able to tell the whole story without interruption. The Dynamic Duo had a habit of doing that. Interrupt. "Had anyone special in mind?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I do," she had cracked a grin now. "Ginny."

_Oh great! Another temperamental read-head. _But maybe that's for the best. She had both Scarface and Carrot-head wrapped around her little finger. It was his turn to crack a grin.

"Perfect."

"If you floo-call her, I will just go and change into something… more," She gave him a lopsided smile. "We better hurry though, or else they are going to try and break in believing you kidnapped me or something."

"Sure thing. I'll call her."

"Thanks." Then she turned to the closet grabbed some clothes and went to the adjoining bathroom.

Walking over till the fire place on the opposite side of the bed, he started to look where she kept the purple floo-call powder. He found it in one of the two medium sized glass bowls on the mantelpiece, the other bowl contained the dark green powder used for traveling.

He was just about to take a fist when he noticed all the envelopes filled with letters that where tucked between the two bowls. None of the envelopes where signed and he was just about to open one of them to see what it said when he heard rustle from the bathroom that reminded him of his job. He had a bad feeling about those letters but let it slide for now, knowing that he would have time to look at those later.

The fire roared up in purple flames once he threw the powder and addressed the call. Soon he saw the red-head in question staring at him confused and a bit suspicious. He smirked. It was funny how old judgments seemed to stick around.

"Weaselette," he greeted her, his smirk widening when he saw her scowl back. "Hermione and I need some help with two annoying friends of yours. One with black hair and one with the same hair colour as you, I think you know them."

"What have they done now?" she asked sighing.

"Besides a few yells, not so much. Yet. We're more worried about what's to come. We need you to be a meddler so we can at least try to make this conversation as civil as possible."

Another sigh came through the fireplace. "When?"

"Now."

"Okay, I'll floo right over. Watch out."


	26. Story Time

**A/N: Another quite long wait, sorry 'bout that. School kinda took all my energy, and that's sadly something I have to priority. **

**But on another note I have soon reached 100 freaking reviews! I'm thrilled. I can't believe it's almost happening! I'm probably going to do a victory dance which contains a lot of girlish screams. Hopefully it won't happen whilst I'm in class... then it will be kind of embarrassing...**

**It's basically only dialogue in this chapter, but it sort of had to be that way. Hope you like it!**

**Story Time**

When the three of them emerged from Hermione's bedroom they found both Harry and Ron on the sofa devouring the pizza, which apparently had arrived during their little stay in the bedroom. That was probably a good thing though, Hermione mused. Keeping Ron's mouth occupied might help him from lashing out when they tried to explain it all.

So now it was really the time. Time to tell her two best friends that she was going out with their school-nemesis. Oh joy.

"Ginny?" Ron asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, some people didn't think you could handle this talk civilly."

"What! I can be civil!" Ron nearly shouted making the pizza he was chewing draw an abstract pattern in her white plush carpet.

"I'll call the drycleaner tomorrow." Draco whispered in her ear voicing her thoughts exactly.

"Please do." She whispered back through the corner of her mouth. She could almost hear him snicker behind her and she had to fight her eyes from rolling.

"Ron! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't talk with your mouth full!" Ginny exclaimed and whacked him over the head.

"Oww!"

"So let's get this over with!" she said and squeezed herself between Ron and Harry on the sofa.

"Ehm... yes." Hermione started a bit nervously and took a seat in one of the two armchairs that stood across from the sofa. Draco took the other one.

"So Hermione, when did you start to... hang out with Malfoy?" Harry asked trying to not to sound too revolted.

"Well... we sort of ended up on the same hotel in Puerto Rico..." Hermione really, really didn't want to tell the rest. How awkward wasn't it to tell your best friends that you were sleeping with the enemy. Jupp, pretty awkward.

"And suddenly you became best buds?" Ron asked sarcastically, once again with his mouth full. "Come on Hermione what did he do? Threat you? Hex you?"

"Ron, the carpet! Please!" Hermione begged seeing her favourite carpet take on a more reddish tone.

"Sorry." He mumbled and pushed himself further into her sofa.

"I didn't do anything to Hermione," the statement was met by two disbelieving pair of eyes, but Draco continued as if he hadn't noticed. "We were quite surprised when we first met to say the least and in one way or the other we ended up in a drinking game."

"Drinking game?" Harry asked Hermione with disbelief, knowing from a firsthand experience that Hermione didn't hold her liquor very well. Let's just say that is was an unpleasant evening for both Harry and Hermione.

"Yes, well that's nothing I'm particularly proud of. And I lost, so I had to do the punishment."

"Aha! So he did threat you!" Ron exclaimed victoriously throwing his closed fist up in the air in a victory gesture which earned him another whack in the head from Ginny.

"Draco, Hermione, please continue." She said whilst glaring daggers at Ron.

"So the following day I surfed in a toga-"

"I didn't know you could surf!" Harry stated shockingly.

"I can't or perhaps I should say couldn't. And the bloody toga threatened to drown me, and Draco saved me."

"Saved you?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

"Why do you sound so shocked?" Draco asked a little offended.

"Because.. you.." Harry started.

"Because it's you! A Malfoy, a Slytherin, the most selfish man in the universe!" Ron continued.

"Why, thank you Weasely! It means so much to me to hear you say that!" Draco drawled sarcastically. "I'm not made of stone you know, couldn't let her die on my watch, now could I?"

"We were just surprised, that's all. Do continue." Ginny said felling it was time to break the banter before it turned into a full blown fight.

"Yes, right," Hermione started. "Draco started to teach me how to surf, so it wouldn't happen again and we started to get to know each other." She purposely skipped the part where she had been a total wreck and cried for a whole night in Draco's arms. They really didn't need to know that. "And on New Year's day we had our first date, and thing have kind of followed after that."

She looked at Draco and they seemed to come to a mutual agreement not to say what happened on the first date. Or the evenings that followed. Or what happened just about an hour ago. It wasn't their place to know, but they had eyes so they let them come to that conclusion themselves.

"And that's that." Hermione ended.

"B-but Hermione," Ron started. "You know that this is Malfoy, the same git who made our lives hell during school!"

"I'm very well aware of that, thank you Ron, but he had changed." Hermione continued and reached out to and took Draco's hand, entwining their fingers. A small gesture, really, but it said so much! Entwining hands could be more emotional than public kissing. It spoke about simplicity, caring, and first and foremost trust.

The affectionate sign seemed to be too much for Ron who abruptly stood up and left by floo.

They all seemed to stare at his exit for a couple of minutes in complete silence before Ginny spoke up.

"I think that went rather well, don't you?"

"Better than I hoped it would." Hermione admitted before turning to Harry who still sat staring towards her living room fireplace. "Harry, are you okay?"

"Just chocked." He answered in a short and hollow voice. Hermione and Ginny exchanged concerned glanced.

"Harry come, let's go home okay." Ginny said and started direct him towards the fireplace. "He will be okay. He just needs some time." She said back to them before both of them flooed away leaving Hermione and Draco to themselves.

"That was exhausting!" Hermione exclaimed and flumped back in her chair.

"Indeed," Draco said and started draw circular patterns on her hand with his thumb. "Let's wait a couple of days before we tell my friends okay?"

"Agreed."

He smiled at her but suddenly started to frown. "We can't wait with my mother though. She will skin me alive if she suspects I kept something like this from her."

"Oh, how charming." Hermione said sarcastically but truth be told she was quite frightened of the Ice Queen, as she was usually called. From what she had heard Narcissa Malfoy could make a person cry in less than ten minutes. She was the epitome of iciness whilst still being the centre of the social gathering. Wonder what she was going to say when she found out that Draco was going out with a muggle-born. Draco had changed but he was still young, changeable. Mrs. Malfoy had lived with the prejudiced for quite some time, maybe it was too much to ask for a change.

After all old habits die hard.


	27. Narcissa Malfoy

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter for you! The meeting with Narcissa… Please tell me what you think of it, I'm not quite sure myself… **

**Anyway, I HAVE REACHED 100 REVIEWS! Oh. My. God! Thank you so bloody much! I love every one of you for the reviews, favorite and story alerts! You guys are amazing! (making an awful happy-dance)**

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><p><strong>Narcissa Malfoy <strong>

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><p>"How are they coping?" Hermione asked Ginny a few days later over lunch. They had not been able to meet since the day she and Draco got back, and she really missed their lunches. When would Hermione otherwise have time for gossip in her busy day schedule? Being head of the Department of Magical Cooperation wasn't exactly a piece of cake.<p>

But right now her main concern was for her two best friends. Neither of them had talked or owled her since the revealing of her and Draco's relationship. She was getting rather worried. By her calculations Harry would have started talking to her about two to three days after he heard the news, but it was already day five and she still hadn't heard from him.

For Ron though she had estimated approximately one week, maybe even a little more since he'd never truly come to terms with that Draco was in fact innocent, and not evil as they had thought during their Hogwarts years. But she still thought he would come and meet her, even if it only was to yell and tell her that she had gone mad for sleeping with their supposed 'enemy'.

"Harry is still a bit torn," Ginny explained a bit sadly. "I don't think he knew it was so serious and he thinks you should have consulted him first before you made up your mind about the relationship."

"Why? I love Harry but he has no say in my love life. Honestly, didn't he know that?"

"I know. You're like his sister and as every brother, Harry's protective. Not as much as Ron, but still protective. He just wants you to be happy and safe."

"I am happy." Hermione said sincerely, she just didn't feel safe. There had been four new letters waiting for her when she'd returned home after the holiday. She did feel safer with Draco hanging around but those threats were really starting to get to her.

"I'm glad and they will come around, it only takes some time," Ginny said reassuringly, grabbing her hand and gave it a light squeeze in a comforting matter before she decided it was time to change the subject. "But how did it go with his mother?"

_Ah yes. How did it go?_

"It was..." she still searched for a good word that could describe the totally surreal experience. She took a sip of her wine, letting it tickle every taste bud as if the wine would hold the wisdom she searched for. "Peculiar." She finally settled with putting down her glass.

"Peculiar? Care to elaborate?" the red-head questioned.

"It was so odd. She was, no wait, the whole atmosphere was cold, but underneath it practically sparked with intelligence. I could almost feel Mrs. Malfoy analyse me, quite disturbing really."

"I can see that! But how did she take it? No wait, start from the beginning I want to hear every little detail."

"What is it with you and details, Ginny?"

She chuckled lightly. "They give me a more colourful view of the story, it makes it easier for me to visualize what actually happened," she turned to Hermione and flashed a devious smirk. "It makes it all so much more fun."

"In that case you'd better order another glass of wine."

"Hermione is only lunch, are you sure?"

"It's a rather long story."

"In that case." Ginny said and turned to request two more glasses of wine of the nearest waiter.

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><p><em><strong>At Malfoy manor a few days prior. <strong>_

"Stop fidgeting!" Draco hissed.

"I'm not fidgeting!" Hermione responded in an equally hushed voice. They were standing outside large double doors that lead into one of the Malfoy manors sitting rooms.

"Shall I introduce you to mistress now, master?" the little elf who had escorted them through the house asked in a squeaky voice.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked instead turning to Hermione. "It's going to be okay!"

"Easy for you to say! She's your mother, she has to love you! Me on the other hand she can hate! Not a very reassuring thought!"

"She already respects you since the war," Draco started and noticed her little flinch as he mentioned the war. No doubt she recalled the events that occurred in this particular house. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Just be yourself and she will like you."

"Like that will help..." she muttered sourly.

"It was enough for me," he said with a cocky grin and stole a chaste kiss on her lips. "Now let's get this over with."

He nodded to the elf, who snapped his fingers to open the doors. It tripped inside and announced their presence to Malfoy matriarch.

They walked into his mother's favourite sitting room. He guessed it was because it faced south, letting the room bathe in light through the high glass windows. It truly was one of the lightest rooms in the Manor with the light pistachio walls and white sofas.

His mother was sitting on one of the two sofas, looking regally as always. To tell you the truth, Draco had no idea how his mother was going to take it. She had come past the prejudices against muggle-borns but he didn't know if she would think it was appropriate for him to go out with one.

Hermione on the other hand wasn't too optimistic about Narcissa Malfoy's consent. Sure, the Malfoy matriarch had changed her opinions about muggle-borns, otherwise she wouldn't have been so openly welcomed back into society, but she still wasn't all hugs and kisses. And Hermione had got the feeling that the older Slytherin was rather protective of her son.

And if there was one thing you should really, really avoid it was a protective Slytherin. It was probably ranked just below a revengeful Slytherin. It all made a relationship with a Slytherin rather difficult. Well, well, too late now anyways.

They both settled on the opposite sofa in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione could almost feel Mrs. Malfoy's eyes bore into her soul. There was no doubt that there was intelligence behind those ice-blue eyes. The intensity made her gulp.

"Hello mother." Draco greeted a bit stiffly.

"Hello Draco and ." Narcissa said politely with a little smile, her gaze lingering a little quizzical over young woman in front of her.

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy, and please call me Hermione." She said with as much courage as she could muster.

"Only if you call me Narcissa." The older witch answered back.

"Okay, Narcissa." Hermione said smiling politely. She had the feeling that everything was going to be played by upper-social rules, which meant that she would have to be very careful with what she would say.

"Mother, we are here to tell you that we, Hermione and I, are officially a couple." He spoke slowly so she wouldn't miss a word.

The older Malfoy eyes widened for a millisecond before returning to her polite mask. "I see, and I assume you met on your trip?" she questioned calmly.

"Yes, that's correct." Hermione answered.

"So what are your intentions with my son?"

"W-what?" Hermione asked a bit startled by the abrupt question.

"What are your intentions with my son? Do you love him? Are you going to marry him? Is this all about the money?" Narcissa continued with an emotionless expression, except for her eyes, which had turned to blue fire.

Hermione's eyes were now in the size of a teacup and she desperately turned to Draco for some help. Had his mother gone crazy? They had just started dating, for Merlin's sake!

Draco shrugged his shoulders like he didn't know what his mother was talking about. _Much help there..._

She turned back to the older Malfoy. It was time to fight fire with fire. "With all due respect, Narcissa. Draco and I have just started going out officially, and we do not want to get ahead of ourselves. What happens happens and I am not sitting here to listen to your accusations of what may and may not occur. And don't you ever accuse me for being a gold-digger! I'm with Draco because I like him and not because of a stack of gold piling up in some Gringotts vault! I really couldn't care less about your fortune!" she said with a raised voice and she was pretty sure her cheeks were burning.

Hermione didn't trust herself enough to stay in the room without saying anything more she would regret later. So she stood up vehemently and walked out of the sitting room.

Left behind was two pretty chocked Malfoys. They sat there in silence even after they heard the roar of the floo that indicated that the younger witch had left the Manor.

After about ten minutes Narcissa spoke up. "I like her."


	28. Letters

**Letters**

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><p><em><strong>Later that same day as the meeting with Narcissa. <strong>_

"She told me she likes you!" Draco said trying to console his frustrated girlfriend.

"How could she possibly like me after that? I yelled at her for Merlin's sake!" she exclaimed frantically, still pacing on her newly dry-cleaned carpet.

"I don't know how! My mother is a very complicated woman, which I stopped trying to understand years ago. Maybe she liked your fire, I know I do anyway." He finished with wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

He hadn't stayed much longer with his mother, only to exchange some pleasantries and schedule a dinner the following week, before he started looking for Hermione. It was safe to say that he was quite surprised by her outburst, but at the same time it made him incredibly smug. She liked him. Even though he knew that before it was something about hearing her say it that made it all the more believable. Okay… maybe 'say' wasn't the right word, yelled was much more appropriate as Hermione efficiently put it.

He was also pretty sure that his mother had found the yelling refreshing. There were few people who dared to contradict her and no one did with the fire Hermione had used earlier that day. His mother truly was a disturbed woman.

He was suddenly hit with one of the sofas decoration pillows. It took him by surprise and made him stumble a few steps back. Had she just thrown a pillow at him?

Oh yes she had.

With a wicked grin he picked up the pillow at his feet and started moving towards his witch. He saw her amber eyes become larger as she guessed his intentions. "Oh no you don't." she said eying him carefully.

"Oh yes, I do." Came his smirking answer. In less than a second she darted off into the kitchen. He let her have a few seconds advance before chasing after his girlfriend though her flat.

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><p>Two hours later Hermione lay in her bed tightly snuggled up against Draco. The chase had ended in a downright pillow fight and her cheeks hurt from all the smiling and giggling. The fight had been rather voluminous and she dared not to think of the state her flat was in right now.<p>

She still couldn't fathom how Narcissa could like her after that meeting. Her actions had been childish and impulsive and she was ashamed of how she reacted. She had indeed meant every word of it, but had she needed to shout it out?

No.

Although Mrs. Malfoy's words had provoked her she should have been able to hold her head. She was Hermione Granger, a rational woman. Not one who yelled her head off on her first meeting with her boyfriend's mother!

Oh, Merlin! She felt so embarrassed!

She placed a small kiss on her sleeping lover's naked chest before trying to get some sleep as well. She was just drifting away to sleep when she heard a persistent tapping on her window followed by a small thud in her fireplace.

Hermione felt the dread creep along her spine turning her limbs deadly still. Not another one.

She felt Draco stir slightly, having woken up from the tapping. "What is it?" he asked in a half mumbling voice.

"A letter."

"At this hour?"

"Apparently…"

"Aren't you going to get it?" he asked lifting a heavy eyelid.

"No. It can wait, I can take it tomorrow. Let's sleep."

"Okay. Night."

"Night Draco."

He threw her arm around her waist and hugged her tight, nuzzling his face in her hair, and was asleep in a matter of minutes. Hermione on the other hand was less fortunate. She lay awake thinking about what the letter may say until an unsettling sleep seized her in the wee hours of the morning.

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><p>She woke with a sense alarm the next morning. Her whole body screamed from the minimum sleep. The letter still laid in her fireplace; white, untouched and mocking. She took a couple of minutes to gather courage, before en she determinately got off the bed and walked with purposeful strides to get the letter.<p>

With the letter in hand she turned back and sat at the foot of the bed. Slowly she opened the envelope and pulled out a rather long parchment. She directly knew that this wasn't like the other letters she had received.

Taking a deep breath she unfolded it and started reading.

_Mudbood,_

_I cannot with words describe how much you and your kind contaminate our society. You pollute the air we breathe. You disgrace the land we walk on. And your blood taints our fragile population. You and your filthy kind have infiltrated our week ministry, making it follow your every whim. _

_Though I despise how week the ministry has become, and believe me when I say that I will deal with that as well, it is all done by your kinds filthy hands. Everything you touch, you contaminate by your impure blood. And it leaves marks. Marks everywhere. Despicable marks. _

_Mudbloods needs to disappear from this society. It is necessarily to contain the graced wizarding race, you are not allowed to live here. You will affect the weak ones and start spreading your disease through our family lines, break them up, destroy them. _

_To ensure that this w__ill not__ be happening any more I need to set an example, make the other mudbloods fear me as they rightfully should. You my sweet mudblood, are that example. _

_I will kill you slowly, painfully and enjoy every moment of it as I see the blood pour out from your contaminated body. I will make you scream, make you understand just how impure you are. _

_I will come for you, personally. You should see that as __an__ honour._

_- The Real Savior _

Hermione could only stare at the letter. She had gotten threats before, but none had been this extensive. Before there had never been promises, just hurtful words. This was different, she could tell. The threat was written in blood with sharp, precise letter, making it seem like the parchment was in agony. It was also written with such conviction she hadn't seen since the war. The thought made her chilled down to the bone. She couldn't disregard it anymore, this was real.

She sat there, holding the letter in a dead firm grip, while silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn't even move an inch when she felt Draco rise behind her and encircled her in his arms. He gently pried away the letter from her hands and started to read it whilst rubbing her back in a comforting matter. She could feel the him tense more and more the further he read but she still didn't do anything. They just sat there, completely still, wondering what the heck they should do.

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><p><em><strong>Back in the present, after the lunch with Ginny<strong>_

Hermione had yet to receive another letter, and for that she was grateful because the old message was still fresh in her memory. It had made her uncertain, and if it was one thing Hermione did not like to be, it was uncertain. She wished she had Harry to talk to as well. Draco was good, his presence made her feel safe, and she didn't doubt that he could protect them if it came down to it. Not that she was defenseless, she was pretty good with her wand, if she could say so herself.

But if she told Harry, he might enlarge it a scale or two. Though she trusted Draco he had not enough power to make it into real investigation in the same scale as Harry could. Especially since this bloke mentioned that this was a threat against the ministry too.

If he would only just pull his head out of the gutter. She needed her best friend.

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><p><strong>AN: There, a little twist. I hope you liked it! **

**It's actually my birthday today, turning 18, so why don't you leave a review as a little present? ****Just a thought. **


	29. Healers Appointment

**A/N: Had a really hectic week in school, but now it's mostly over. Just one English speech then I have Easter break. That's why I love spring, so many holidays! Will try to update a bit more frequent but I can't promise anything. **

**Thank you immensely for all the congratulations! You made my whole week! **

**Now on to the chapter, I hope you like it. It's a bit of a filler, but I felt like I needed to sort some things out and build a good ground for future chapters. **

**Oh and before I forget! Happy Fools Day! (if you say it that way..)**

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><p><strong>Healers Appointment <strong>

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><p>Two weeks later things between her and Harry were still a bit on the bumpy side. They had met occasionally, but the encounters were always laced with an uneasiness that Hermione did not like. She hoped it would pass with time, their friendship was stronger than that, right?<p>

Ron was another kettle of fish. They had yet to speak even though Ginny nagged him about it constantly. She had sent him countless letters that he had returned unopened. _No progress there…_

"Healer Hayes can see you now, Miss Granger." The perky young healer informed her from her desk and awoke her from her thoughts.

"Oh, thank you." Hermione said and rose from her seat on the uncomfortable chair in St. Mungo's waiting room. She was there for her annual medical examination, but her healer, Mr. Hayes, had had an emergency case which had left Hermione waiting for about an hour. She made her way up to the second floor and Mr. Hayes examination room.

Magical people didn't usually get sick, but Hermione had made it to get herself checked once a year. She liked to have statistics and confirmation on that her body was functioning correctly. It was probably all those medical programs or films on the telly that had made her that paranoid.

Nevertheless there she was, about to walk into Healer Hayes, feeling rather confident since her body had been more energized the last month then it had been in over two years. Mainly because of Draco. He made her feel alive again, both in her heart, mind and body.

As the weeks had proceeded she had felt a warm tug in her heart whenever he was near, whether they had been separate for ten minutes or a day. She found herself sitting in her office during working hours and daydreaming about him, making her forget all about her job. He made her, Hermione Granger forget about work! It was simply astonishing.

She smiled at herself as she lightly knocked on Healers Hayes door and entered after a faint _'come in'. _

"Miss Granger, nice to meet you again. I must say that you look absolutely radiant today!" he stood from his desk and went to greet her with a friendly hug. She had first met the healer after the war, when everyone who actively fought in the battle was forced an all-over examination, searching for permanent, Dark Arts inflicted injuries. The kind, grey-haired wizard had instantly caught Hermione's liking, and about a week afterwards she had returned to St. Mungo's and booked a yearly appointment with the healer.

"Nice to meet you too, Healer Hayes. And thank you!"

"Sorry about the delay, but there was a kid who had, accidently, transfigured half of himself into a stuffed bunny."

"Oh, is he okay?" Hermione never quite understood how so many magical kids could manage to get themselves into such trouble. And for most of the wizarding population that was not an irregularity.

"Yes, he should be fine. He just needs to be sprayed with a strong reversing-potion twice a hour. For the next twelve hours."

"Well that's good." She said and took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack together with her purse.

"Yes. Ready for the usual check-up?" the older wizard said in a cheerful tone.

"Absolutely." She answered and sat on the edge of the narrow hospital bed.

Healer Hayes did a number of spells that told him how the state of different parts of her were. He checked her skeletons strength, her muscles, vitals, ears, eyes, and blood. For the last part it was required to give a small dollop of blood into a small vial. The blood was mixed with a special potion that defined abnormalities.

"While we wait for the required five minutes for the blood-analysis, I will go an fill in your chart." Hermione nodded and Healer Hayes left.

She and Draco were going to Blaise and Pansy for dinner the following evening. She knew Blaise since the holiday, but she had not yet met Pansy. That could prove difficult as Hermione had the feeling that Pansy was a little protective about Draco, and stayed guarded around his girlfriends never trusting them.

She was also a little undecided about what she was going to wear. On some juvenile plane, she wanted to show Pansy that she wasn't the brushy haired beaver from their school years. But at the same time she didn't want to be overdressed since it was only a dinner for four and they weren't even supposed to go out.

She supposed she could look for a blouse of some kind on her way home to match with her black slim jeans. She knew at least Draco liked those trousers. She had more than once caught him staring at her bum with fiery eyes when she had worn them.

It was simply amazing how easy he could make her feel attractive, and wanted. Whenever he looked at her, his eyes ablaze, she thought she would literary melt into a puddle on the ground. She liked the way... No liked wasn't the right word. Her feelings had over the past two weeks grown deeper than that. She was falling in love with him.

She was falling in love with Draco Malfoy. Merlin please help her! She was in love with him!

Her vivid thoughts had kept her occupied and jumped when she heard Healer Hayes come back into the room.

"The other spells showed nothing out of ordinary last test should be ready any second. I will just do the last spells on the test and then you will be free to go."

"Thank you Healer Hayes."

"No need to thank me Miss Granger, I am only doing my job." Then he turned to the little vial and silently whispered the incantations. " Well, your immune system is good, and the magic in it is as strong as ever. But the last one..."

He furrowed his eyebrows and muttered another incantation over the vial. Then his expression turned till surprise and he turned back to Hermione. "It seems like congratulations are in order!"

Now it was Hermione's time to be confused. "For what?"

"You're pregnant."


	30. Shock

**First and foremost: **_**Oh My Freaking God! **_**You readers are amazing! I can't express with words how happy I become by every single review. I'm so grateful for the positive response I got from the last chapter. To be honest, I didn't know how you would react to my little surprise (smirking evilly). And to know that I have converted someone to Dramione, you just can't understand how huge that compliment is for me!**

**Oh, maybe you just want to read Herms reaction and not listen to me praise you lot? Very well…**

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><p><strong>Shock<strong>

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><p>"Excuse me!" Hermione screamed jumping up from her seat on the hospital bed. She couldn't be pregnant. It just could not be!<p>

"As I understand Miss Granger, this has come as a shock and I-"

"A shock? A shock! Are you kidding with me?" she was livid. She knew it wasn't Healer Hayes fault, but she had all this pent up feelings that she didn't know how to express and anger was the easiest way.

"And I advise you to sit down so we can talk about this rationally."

She slumped down on the bunk like all her energy had been drained. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be-" she somewhat chanted, rocking back and forth.

"Miss Granger."

"This can't be happening."

"Miss Granger."

"This can't be happening. This can't be happ-"

"Hermione." Healer Hayes said sternly, snapping her out of it. "I can't even begin to imagine what you are going through right now. But let me assure you, it's not too late to do anything, if you want to take that way out. You're still in the very early stages."

"Do anything?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"Remove the foetus." Healer Hayes said, his face set in a serious expression.

Remove the child? The little creature that grew inside her? An innocent tiny human. Her tiny human. Her little wizard. Be removed? To never see daylight? To never grow up and live life to the fullest?

"What? No! Absolutely no!" This was not her decision to make. She was not in possession to ultimately decide whether or not the child would have a life, no matter how demanding it would become for herself. Every child should have the right to live, to grow up and to experience everything the world have to offer, who was she to say no to that?

"Okay, it's okay. I am obligated to present the options. It's entirely your decision, but bear in mind that a child requires a lot of time and dedication. It's not a small feat, you know, to raise a child."

"I know, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I would choose that option. Everyone should have the same conditions at life, and besides this little squirt is mine and I could not do that to my kin." She explained with a newfound confidence as she rubbed her tummy.

"Very well, it seems as if you've made your choice and I'm very proud of you Hermione." Hayes said with a warm smile.

"Thank you." She said to her Healer, feeling gratitude toward him. "You said I was still in the early stages, but can you determine how far along I am? How many weeks?"

"Certainly. If you would be kind to lie down on the bed and I will have an answer in a few seconds."

Hermione lay back as requested and watched as Healer Hayes moved his wand in complicated patterns above her stomach. Then, out of thin air, a hologram appeared where he had just finished his spell. The hologram showed cycle in which was separated into nine parts, one for each month. A clear blue colour filled the first and a bit of the second part, and she presumed that that was how far along she was.

The most amazing thing with the hologram though, was that it beating in pace with the foetus. It was one of the most outstanding things Hermione had heard. The sound of her child's heart beat.

She could not believe how fast she had come to terms with that there was something growing inside her, depending on her. The thought of being a mum, had yet to come and scare her but for the moment she felt happy.

"As you can see, you are just a little over four weeks along. The exact date should be-"

"Wait! You can determine the exact date?" Hermione asked in wonder. Some things about the magical world were still new to her, despite the fact that she had been a part of it for more than half her life. This was one of those things.

"Yes, this spell is extremely accurate and the further along you are the hologram will show more things, such as sex, vitals and even pictures."

"Wow" she mouthed in awe. "When is my exact date?"

"It says the first or second January. I assume you conceived around midnight and that's why it can't decide between the dates." _He got that right._ Not that she would tell him so, this was all getting rather awkward. Her Healer knew the exact date and possible time when she had had sex with Draco. It was something she wished her Healer didn't know, it was personal.

It was the night they had gone on their first date, the date that had ended in Draco's bed. It had been a spur of the moment thing, and the contraceptive and disease charm had been the last thing on both their minds. She suspected with everything that happened later, namely Blaise, Ginny, she had not been able to take the day-after potion in time. The bloody potion was supposed to have the same effect as the CDC, but – and the but is apparently important – only if taken before twelve hours has passes since the intercourse.

Hermione took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "So, what happens now?"

"We schedule monthly appointments as it is important for us to keep track of his growth and magical abilities," Healer Hayes explained as he sat down in his chair and picked up his calendar. "Some children have very strong magical abilities or auras that can play tricks with the mother's powers. We need to be able to control it so it won't affect others or the mother."

"I see," she said and went to grab her purse where the own calendar was. "I am free the 8th of March and third of both April and May, should we start with that?"

"That would be great. At eleven on all three occasions?"

"That's fine."

"And you are welcome to bring your boyfriend to the check-ups." The Healer sad as he placed the calendar on his desk.

It was a totally normal question. But it made Hermione freeze. Draco was her boyfriend, the father of her new discovered and unborn child. The fact was more frightening than discovering that she was pregnant.

She didn't doubt that Draco would be a good father, it was more the fact that they had dated just over a month and only had only started to get to know each other a week before that. They were not ready to have a kid. Sure, she had come to the conclusion that she loved him but even admitting that felt like moving too fast. Not to be talking about having a kid...

And how should she tell him? _Hey, Draco by the way; I'm pregnant with your child._ Yeah, right.

He was going to freak.

**A/N: Wow, this chapter pulled its own horses, so to speak. It was real fun to write Hermione's reactions and I'm sorry I wasn't able to put Draco's reactions, but that would have made a hell of a long chapter. I guess you will just have to wait and see...**


	31. Proud Draco

**A/N: And here it is, the much awaited chapter. How will Draco take it? Will he be happy? Angry? Faint? To find out, all you have to do is read! Easy enough huh? Hope that this is up to your expectations and remember that I try to keep things as realistic as I can. **

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><p><strong>Proud Draco<strong>

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><p><em>Things were going great. No, better than great in fact<em>. Draco mused as he was preparing dinner in Hermione's flat. They spent almost every evening together and Draco, who hadn't thought himself to be good at relationship-stuff, was enjoying every second of it. It was funny how one's life could change so drastically by a simple vacation.

Hermione had owled him in the afternoon and said that she might be a little late for dinner. Deciding to surprise her with a self-made meal, which he had been struggled with for the large part the late afternoon and early evening- Malfoy's never do anything half-heartedly, he had arrived at her flat using the spare-key. He wasn't very good in the kitchen and hadn't spared it a second thought before Hermione had made him help her a couple of weeks a. In all his life house-elves had done everything accompanied with the house choirs, he had been slightly chocked when he got a strange proud feeling for having managed to do something by himself. Thereafter he could be found quite frequently helping her in the kitchen doing everything from main courses to deserts. He had never done anything completely by himself though, but the image of a happily surprised Hermione had steeled his mind to make everything perfect.

Feeling like the silence in the kitchen was becoming rather depressing, Draco tuned in his wand at the local radio station, Wiz. He liked music, it was soothing an joyful and had an uncanny ability to reach every part of his being. But he would rather be caught dead than to let anyone now that or to, heaven forbid, hear him humming. Instead he took a big gulp of the elf-wine he had brought with him from the Manor, and continued to chop tomatoes that would go into the salad.

The entrecote was in the oven getting its last touches, as was the baked potatoes. The red-wine sauce was kept hot on the stove and the only thing remaining was the salad, which he was not almost done with. _Yes, things were going great._

Finishing the salad he set the table with his wand and perched himself on the bar-stool at the kitchen island slowly sipping his wine. It was little past 8 o'clock so Hermione should be home any minute.

He didn't know what had made her late, but it was probably something at work that she had to finish. Since she had skipped an hour for her healer's appointment he supposed that she just had catch up on a few things. It never stopped to astonish him how she could be the head of the Department of Magical Cooperation at such a young age! But if it was one who was up to the demanding job it would be Hermione Granger, every time he thought about it he felt himself swell with pride.

Right then the person that occupied so much of his spare-thoughts opened the door to her flat. He rose from his seat and walked to the hall to help her with her coat as well as greet her hello.

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><p>She was slightly surprised to see Draco greeting her when she got home to her flat, but it quickly turned to uneasiness. Plastering a fake smile she greeted her boyfriend, soon to be the father of her child, with a chaste kiss. Seriously! They had only been dating for a month's time, this was way, way too soon!<p>

"What are you doing here?" she asked him in a nervously light tone.

"I have made you dinner!" He said, and it was clear that he was proud of himself as he was grinning from ear to ear and was not detecting her odd behaviour. Even through her nervousness she felt her face take up a true smile. He had changed so much from the git he was at Hogwarts. Even during the short amount of time they had been together he had changed, and to know that a lot of the changes was because of her made her eyes sting with tears of joy.

Swallowing back her overly emotional state of mind she hugged him tight and headed for the kitchen to see what he had made. The wonderful smell of food hit her as soon as she entered the kitchen. The smell was divine and made her mouth water. "This smells amazing Draco!" she turned around to him with sparkling eyes.

"Well, I hope it taste as good as it smells," He said sheepishly. "Why don't you go and freshen up and I will put out the food."

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute." She said with a, once again, nervous smile.

Once inside her bathroom the dam broke and her tears rolled freely down her cheeks. He was so wonderful, how could she dump this on him? Burden him with a child? No matter how much she would love the little one, everything she knew would be turned upside-down. And there was nothing she could do to change that. After washing her face with coldwater and charming away the puffiness and redness in her eyes, she emerged from the bathroom ready to have a wonderful dinner and change Draco's life forever.

* * *

><p>Draco had sensed that something was wrong the moment she had stepped inside the door, but had quickly dismissed it as tiredness from the long day at work.<p>

Now, he was not so sure anymore. She was awfully jumpy all dinner and the conversation had been quite stiff, and not fluent like it usually was. They had just finished dinner but were still sitting at the dark dining table. Not quite knowing what to do he started to pour himself some more wine, and frowned at Hermione's still full glass. Hadn't she liked it? He had deliberately picked one of the finer wines they had at the Manor.

Grasping for something to talk about he asked casually "How did the healer appointment go?" When he saw her visibly shudder she frowned even more, not knowing what he had done wrong. But before he could ask her what's wrong she spoke in an extremely nervous tone.

"Um... well... About that... There is something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" What could it be that made her so nervous?

He saw her close her eyes and taking a deep breath. Then opening them she locked her gaze with his and said in a fast but firm voice words that he had not expected. "I'm pregnant."

Feeling his eyebrows hit the roof he just stared at her. "You're joking." It was no question, more of a pleading. She shook her head and started to speak, but he could not hear what she said as the blood roared in his ears. He just sat there and stared at her for he didn't know how long. She was pregnant? She was pregnant. She was pregnant! What. The. Fuck.

"Please Draco," she pleaded tears rolling down her beautiful cheeks. "Talk to me!"

"Fine! You want me to talk to you! How could you let this happen? You're supposed to be responsible!" he exclaimed in a way that was in stark contrast to her soft pleas. He knew that it takes two to make a baby, quite literary, but for know it was easier to blame her than himself.

"I know." She mumbled back her head hanging heavy on her slumping shoulders.

His anger frizzled out at her defeated look, and all there was left was a void. Pinching the bridge of his nose he gritted out two questions that needed to be answered. "How and when?"

"The first night. We forgot the CDC and with Blaise coming the morning after and Ginny calling, I took the day-after potion too late."

He simply continued to stare at her. What. The. Fuck. He couldn't take this anymore, the void threatened to consume him. He needed to think. He needed to get out of there. If he stayed any longer he doubted that he could control his own actions.

Standing up so quickly that his chair fell backwards he turned to leave walking towards the door with long strides.

"Where are you going?" Hermione yelled between her tears as she chased after him.

"Home. I need to think." Shaking his head he stepped outside and flung the door shut behind him and disappeared with a pop, unaware of the girl crying her hearts out at the closed door.

**A/N: Hehehe hope you liked it, and as always please review! Tell me what you think, what you would like to happen, what you think will come next. Constructive criticism is much appreciated. But that's not why I'm writing this second AN. I am stuck. Not when it comes to this story but rather me reading fanfics. It seems like all I'm seeing is the same fanfics over and over again. If you would like to include your favourite dramione fic (it's the only fanfic I read. Some of the ships... just... ugh *shudders*) in your review I would be most grateful!**

**Once again, hope you liked this chapter! Until next time... **


	32. Gone

**A/N: A bit later than usual, and for that I apologize. The last week was a bit hectic and this weekend was no better, but I'm not complaining! **

**Thanks for all the fic-suggestions, really appreciate it! They helped me through a tough law-test. **

**Anyway... remember that I mentioned a fic me and my mate ThreeUnicorns wote? Well, we have grabbed ourselves in the ear and updated some chapters. So if you got the time please read it. It's a bit different – wow that's an understatement – it's a lot different than APV but, oh so fun to write! My wicked side shows itself in that fic so if you're wondering how my mind works in the most random times feel free to check it out! it's called The Most Epic E-mail Conversation Ever Written by Unicorn and Freaky.**

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><p><strong>Gone<strong>

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><p>Draco didn't get much sleep that night. He made some half-hearted attempts at it, but his mind was too much of a disarray to still itself enough to let sleep claim him. Instead he paced most of the night, back and forth, on the Persian carpet in front of the fireplace in his part of the manor.<p>

By the time dawn came around six in the morning, a fleeting thought went through his mind saying that he might had destroyed a centuries old carpet, but he really couldn't care less. He was going to be a father. A role model. Something that a little kid would look up to and say 'look there's my daddy!'

He wasn't ready. He knew nothing about parenting or being a father. And he was certainly not about to look to his own father for any guidance. No, if it was something he was adamant about, it was that he would not walk in Lucius footprints. Furthermore he had never even held a baby. He had attempted to play with Teddy Lupin once or twice when he and mother had met Aunt Andromeda over the past years, but the toddler had always had something against him and ended up in tears when Draco got too close.

If those encounters had done anything, it was to ensure that he was not good with children, and now he was about to be a father! Did the gods have something against him? With the crappy teenager years and having Voldermort breathing down his neck for his father's failures and the tough years to follow with redeeming the Malfoy name. And just as everything started to slow down and he found himself a sweet – no, amazing girl, this happened.

In a few years, if they were still together, finding out that Hermione was pregnant wouldn't have been so startling. Sure, he would still have felt the doubts of not being good enough, but this early in their relationship? They had only been together for little over a month; it was way, way too soon!

He was not ready. She was not ready he could tell by how broken she had looked when she told him...

_Oh Merlin. Hermione!_ How did she feel about this? Obviously she was a bit scared but if that was because of his reaction, or by the pregnancy itself he didn't know. He only knew that it had made her cry and for that he felt awful.

Never before in his life had he felt this bad for making somebody cry. But then again, Hermione Granger was not somebody. She had a special place in his heart, but how deep those feelings were he had yet to figure out.

Everything was a mess and even if he felt _so, so_ guilty he didn't trust himself to go over there and apologize. He felt ashamed over his outburst the previous night where he had basically told her that it was her fault, he shouldn't have done that. But just as much as he wanted to apologize he didn't know what to say or what to do.

It would be so awkward. He would want to comfort her, but he needed to get his grip together before that so he wouldn't unintentionally lash out at her, and hurt her further. His own emotions were like a poly-juice potion in the making – bubbly and colour-changing and he wasn't even the one to carry the child!

He stopped his pacing and glanced at the clock, 10 am. Had he really been pondering about this for four hours already? He really needed to sort his thoughts out, if he didn't he would continue with this all day long and completely lose track of time.

Starting his daily routine a few hours later than usual, he walked over to his mahogany desk he felt relieved that it was a Saturday. Merlin knew he wouldn't be able to handle a workday on top of this! Checking his calendar to see if he had missed something important while his mind was preoccupied by thinking of parenthood.

Opening the calendar he noticed with devastation that he and Hermione were supposed to have dinner with Blaise and Pansy the same evening. Groaning with frustration he slumped down on the accompanying chair and hid his face in his hands.

Really? Of all days, today was their scheduled dinner? _Perfect. Absolutely bloody perfect._

After fifteen minutes of groaning in about the absurdity of perfect timing he realised that maybe the dinner wasn't so bad after all. It may play as a sterile field where he and Hermione could overcome the awkwardness that he was sure would follow their meeting, without the opportunity to discuss the pregnancy too deeply and therefore avoid unintentional lash-outs.

Yes. The more Draco thought about the upcoming dinner, the more relieved he felt. He absolutely didn't want to lose Hermione but the pregnancy had caught him off guard and scared him all the way to Pigfarts. They needed to slowly get used to the thought of being together whilst there was a baby growing in Hermione's tummy.

He was nodding his head vigorously as if the thoughts would of a mediocre solution would ease the queasiness in his chest. He needed to write to Hermione to make sure that she would be there. He should probably do it right now, before he lost his courage and had to come up with an even more pathetic idea.

* * *

><p>As Draco apparated to the Zabini manor he felt much lighter. He could almost be classified as happy if it wasn't for the nervousness he felt.<p>

Hermione had answered to his letter where he had apologized and mentioned the reasons why he hadn't come personally and sorted the whole thing out before the dinner. Though her returned answer had been dotted with tear-shaped ink smudges she had said that she understood his reason and would come to the dinner.

They had decided to meet at the apparation point outside the manor ten minutes before the actual time so they would look untied and 'normal' when they arrived. Glancing down at his watch ne noticed with a frown that it was five to seven. She was late, and if it was one thing Hermione valued, it was punctuality. She was never late and the discovery made Draco unsettled. It was probably because of the chaotic last 24 hours so he gave her the benefit of a doubt.

When the clock passed five past seven he started to really worry. Was it possible that she may already gone inside? He doubted it but decided to wait another five minutes before checking. Glancing around the now dark winter landscape he hoped that it had just been a little case of miss-direction of her apparation. But he doubted this as well, knowing how bright and educated his witch was. She didn't do anything wrongly.

With this in mind and his uneasiness growing he turned towards the manor to check if she wasn't already there. Walking in a brisk pace down the long path leading to the front doors he thought of those letters she had received, particularly the last one. At the thought he broke out into a run that accelerated the more he started to piece things together. He just hoped he was wrong.

Not a minute later he knocked loudly on the big oak doors catching his breath. The door was opened by Blaise who was frowning at Draco's panting form.

"You alright mate? And where's Hermione? The thing that makes a couple-dinner is that it's supposed to consist of couples."

"Hermione's not here?" Draco asked ignoring Blaise's jibe.

"No. Should she be?" Blaise asked confused.

Draco pulled a frustrated hand through his hair. "She was supposed to meet me outside twenty minutes ago."

"That doesn't sound like Granger."

"No, she usually very punctual. And with the threat-letters she has been receiving... I need to check to see if she's still at her apartment."

"Do so. I will tell Pansy to keep the food warm. Call if you need anything." Blaise said to his frenetic friend.

"Thanks, tell Pans I'm sorry. I'll call you later." He was almost already outside the door when he said the last sentence. Sprinting back the pathway to the apparation point in no time he apparated to Hermione's flat.

He arrived with a pop outside her door. Not even bothering to knock he opened the unlocked door with such force that it hit the wall with a bang. What met his eyes made him froze in his place.

Her whole apartment looked like a battlefield.

The coffee-table lay broken on the floor covered with burned pieces of decoration pillows. The paintings on the wall hang without its usual symmetry and on some places there were round burn marks on the cream-coloured walls. There were pieces of glass everywhere on the floor from broken picture frames and almost everywhere there were down feathers floating about.

But what caught his eye immediately and made his heart sink to the floor was the broken wand just below his feet. Hermione's wand.


	33. The Moment You Realise You Love Someone

**The Moment You Realise You Love Someone**

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><p>It was Hermione's wand. She never went anywhere without it, and now it lay on the wood covered floor, broken in two pieces. The anxious feeling that had started to grow ever since she didn't showed up for dinner changed into a deep black hole that threatened to swallow him whole. Draco couldn't pin-point the exact feeling that made him feel so hollow, only that it was the most excruciating feeling ever past through his body.<p>

He knew that it would be fruitless but the little spark of hope in his mind made him search the flat in a matter of minutes. With each step that he didn't find her his heart turned even heavier.

Where was she? Who took her? But more important, how could he save her?

He felt it with every fibre of his being, he _needed_ to save her. He needed _her. _For once in his life he might actually do something good by choice. All his earlier choices have always lead to destruction, one way or another. But this one, to save Hermione, felt right to his very core.

He returned to the living room with an even more heavy heart and fell to his knees. With that tiny spark of hope extinguished he didn't contain enough strength to hold himself up. He felt deflated, empty.

The old saying,_ 'You never know what you got until its gone.'_ soared through his mind. Why? Because he loved her. Love her. Suddenly it became crystal clear, the drive to please her that he had had when he made her dinner, the anxiousness he experienced when she didn't show up for dinner, the odd feeling in his chest that he couldn't name. It was love. All those emotions and feelings were caused because he loved the brushy haired witch. And now she was gone.

No, he couldn't accept that. Not when he just figured it all out. Pulling himself up, he sent Blaise a patronus telling him to come to the flat immediately. Watching the white wolf made of fluorescent blue light run through the wall he turned back to the battle scene, adamant to find a clue or evidence of who had taken her and where.

And he knew just where to start looking. The letters.

* * *

><p>Blaise arrived at the flat ten minutes later and was momentarily shocked speechless. It looked like he had been transported back in time, to those awful years during the second wizarding war. The whole apartment was trashed, broken, a battlefield. Images that he never wanted to see again.<p>

"Draco?" he called into the flat.

"In here." The defeated response came from the bedroom. Walking inside he saw his best mate on the ground covered with letters.

"I didn't know there was this many..." Draco said in a pained voice.

"What does the letters say?" he asked looking perplexed on Draco who sat with an aura of defeat and shiny grey eyes, a state Blaise never thought he would see his mate in.

Turning towards Blaise Draco answered in a hollow, pained voice, "Threats. They are threats, some even death-threats."

Not knowing what to say Blaise swept some of the letters away and sat on the floor next to him. Comforting people was not something Blaise was good at, he was a Slytherin after all. And a guy, and it was much harder for guys to comfort each other, but during the years they had been friends – especially after the war – they had found it soothing to not be alone. No kind words, no friendly gestures, just the strength of another beings presence.

"Who can be so cruel?" the blond man shook his head in disbelief.

Blaise raised a dark eyebrow at this rhetorical question. At least he assumed it was rhetorical, had the blond man already forgotten about the bald, nose-less guy with the name Voldermort?

Seeing as that Draco had yet to stop shaking his head Blaise took him by the shoulders, commanding him to stop. "Tell me what happened, Draco," he began tentatively. "From the beginning."

Silver eyes met black, and the pain that radiated through those silver moons made him furrow his handsome, dark face. There was something totally messed up here.

"Hermione had gotten these letters," Draco started with a heavy inhale and made a gesture with his arm towards the two dozen letters scattered across the floor. "I've only seen this one before," he continued and picked up one of the longer letters and gave it to Blaise. He gave him a minute to read through and the dark-skinned man frowned more with every line he read. He didn't know there were people with the old beliefs left out there. When Draco saw that he was done he continued.

"I know she was nervous because of the letters, but she hadn't got one in about two weeks, and I didn't think more about it. I thought it was just threats and nothing more, nothing that would develop into something drastic. Obviously I was wrong." Draco snorted and hunched his shoulders before he spoke the next line in a voice barely above a murmur. "We had a row. No, not a row, it was me who overreacted." He said the last more to himself. "She told me she was pregnant and I freaked out. We decided that we would go to your dinner, because eventually we needed to talk, but she never showed up." Draco looked up at Blaise once more, the dark-skinned mans eyebrows where pulled high up on his forehead. She was pregnant? What in Merlin's name!

"She said she would come, and then I found her flat like this and her broken wand!" Draco's now uncharacteristic shrill voice cut through his chock as he showed the fair-coloured broken wand he had been holding tightly in one of his hands.

Even though Blaise didn't knew Hermione that well, he knew that she never went anywhere without the beautifully shaped vine wood wand. No-one that lived through the war did. Looking back at his best mate he saw the blonde look even more miserable, if that was even possible.

"I know you're upset but snap out of it!" Blaise exclaimed after a few seconds. Sure, he hurt with his best mate, but this was not how a former Slytherin should act. "You're acting like a sentimental Hufflepuff! It's not over yet, we can – and we will – find her!" Blaise continued as Draco's switched from depressed to determine.

Breathing out an internal sigh with relief as Draco slowly turned back to himself. That had been scary. "So how are you going to find her?"Blaise asked, steering Draco in a positive direction.

After a few seconds in thought Draco spoke, "We need to go through everything to see if there's any clues..." he tailed off, seemingly deep in thought. Then he continued but this time with a grimace on his face, "We should probably contact Potter. They haven't been on good terms lately since he discovered that she was with me, but I think we could use his help. Hermione could need his help."

Blaise smiled despite the grave situation, happy to have his determined Draco back. The Draco who knew how to act in situations like this. "Good then, we have a plan! I'll call Potter and you'll go through all those letters, okay?"

Draco nodded in response, secretly glad that it wasn't him who would have to call Potter. Merlin knows how that would have ended.

Blaise turned to the door at the nod of acceptation, but haltered halfway out the door by Draco calling his name.

"Blaise..."

"Yeah?"

"Let's... uhmm... never talk about this again, eh?" Draco asked a bit embarrassed as he recalled his actions during the evening.

"Never." Came Blaise's smirking response before he closed the door and went to call Potter so he could save his best friends heart.

The bloke was clearly in love.

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><p><strong>AN: Hello there! Another chapter, a bit late but my life have been hectic so sadly I haven't been able to sit down and write as much as I've wanted. And as my schedule looks like right now and the following weeks, there may be a slight delay in the updates. But believe me when I say that I will try my very best to keep the updates weekly. **

**Anyway just wanted to mention that I'm writing this clad in a Slytherin scarf! How cool isn't THAT! ThreeUnicorns were in London over spring break and was at Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour and bought me this! Can't even begin to tell you how much I love it!**

**I would also thank Vicxie22 for being wonderful and beta-ing every chapter of this story. Thanks for all the time you have laid down on this little baby. **

**And now, how did you like this broken Draco? I didn't really plan him to come out as a complete pansy but I kind of liked it and just wrote with the flow. **


	34. The Painful Side of Kidnapping

**A/N: Fist of all I would like to apologize for the hideous delay. But it's not my fault, I swear! I had written almost the entire chapter on Wednesday but then when I returned later that evening to finish it, my computer crashed! And I'm like fuck the schoolwork that was stashed there as well, GIVE ME BACK MY FANFIC! **

**For those of you who writes themselves knows how hard it is to rewrite a lost chapter, so I went to a store to see if they could help me and bring back all my files. It turned out that my Hard Disk took a trip to heaven and the only files that I have left is the fic but only the documents up till chapter 22... Yeah.. my life sucks..**

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><p><strong>The Painful Side of Kidnapping<strong>

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><p>Hermione was fuming. She was being dragged through a dark, cobblestoned corridor. By the cold raw humidity she assumed that they were in an old dungeon.<p>

Dun. Dun.

Pain flamed up her legs beginning with her heels when she was dragged down the steps as the corridor lead them even further down under ground. The pain in her heels made her forget his painfully firm hold on her hair and the collar of her shirt that he dragged her by. She wanted to shout, she wanted to fight back but she had been silenced and immobilized with a spell after some of her earlier kicks had hit her attacker quite close to home.

She smirked despite the pain. How wonderful it would have been to put an end to the Flint family line, because that's who was dragging her. Marcus Flint. A Slytherin who had graduated a few years ahead of her. She didn't know much about him other from what Harry had told her back in school when he analyzed the Slytherin Quidditch team. From what she remembered from her own memories of the man, he wasn't that smart.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, his elevator didn't reach the top floor, he didn't have all the horses in the stables, yeah.. You get the point. Because of that she didn't think he was the one that lead this kidnapping operation.

She was pretty certain that he wouldn't be able to break through or outsmart her wards by himself, and they had made it through her wards that's for sure. She had returned home from her usual run she made when she needed to think and relax. That run always made it feel like she could run faster than her problems, outrun them, and deal with them on her own terms - when she was ready.

She had been in a hurry to get ready for the dinner at Zabini's that she had not been caught by surprise when Flint attacked her as soon as she stepped inside the door. She had with reflexes gained during the last war managed to evade the attack and pulled her wand out in one fluent movement, only to have it knocked out of her hand by his next attack.

If it would have been a magical attack it wouldn't have been a problem, but both attacks had been physical and she wasn't prepared to defend herself against that. He had attacked her one more time and in the process stomping on her wand making it break in two. His attack had forced Hermione further into the flat, leaving her broken wand by the door.

Despite having no wand she had continued to fight, managing some explosive wandless hexes that made her gain the upper hand. The attacks had continued into a minor battle in which Hermione was the stronger participant, and she would have won if someone had not hit her in the head, hard. She had been facing Flint so she didn't know who it had been that hit her unconscious but the person must have wanted to keep its identity unknown. Otherwise he or she would not have chosen that precise moment.

Either way, it had been her downfall. They had taken her unconscious body to this place where it now was. She had only woken up when Flint started dragging her through the corridor. Another thing that proved how dumb Flint was. He could have easily preformed the levitating spell that they were supposed to learn in their first year at Hogwarts, and he wouldn't have been able to move her through the corridor much simpler and less painful for her. But then again, maybe that's what he was aiming for.

Suddenly Flint released the grip he had on her hair and dropped her still immobilized body on the stone floor. A numb feeling spread over the back of head where his grip had previously been. She heard something that sounded like a heavy old door squeaked opened, she couldn't twist her head and see and she silently cursed herself for being easy enough to immobilize.

Then she felt him take a new rough grip on her upper arm this time and her numb skull was quickly forgotten when he dug his fingernails into her, leaving crescent-shaped marks. His grip tightened even more and suddenly she felt herself fly across the air.

What Marcus lacked in brains he more than well made up for in sheer muscle power.

She nearly flew across the entire cell and landed with a heavy thump on the ground. The remaining power from his throw made her slide over the floor until she hit the wall, hard. For once she was glad that they had put a silence spell on her so that they couldn't hear her screams of pain. A loud crack heard and she prayed to Merlin that it wasn't her skull that had cracked. It was her back and head that had collided with the wall both places hurt but while her head aced her rib was burning.

The hit to her head made her dizzy and fogged her vision with spots. She could also feel something sticky running down her hairline and she held no illusions that it wasn't blood.

While she evaluated her injuries a faint echo could be heard through the corridor they had arrived in. Straining her ears it sounded like high heels clattered the stone floor. The sound became louder and louder until they stopped, presumably just outside the door to her cell.

"Release her." A high pinched feminine voice said with authority. It was clearly she who ran the operation, and she wasn't surprised that Flint was pathetic enough to follow her every whim.

"B..But-" Flint started with a stutter.

"No buts Marcus! Release her now! Both spells!" Her voice raised an octave when she lashed out on her disobeying minion.

Flint muttered a few incantations and when he was done she felt her body go from being frozen at full length to slump down even further into the ground, making her clearly broken rib send excruciating pain over her torso. She bit her lip from releasing the scream that had built up in her throat.

"Now go." The voice ordered again while taking a step into the cell.

Hermione lifted her head to see who she was but was unable to see her face as the light come from the corridor behind, leaving her face in shadows.

The woman walked through the cell towards Hermione and hunched down beside her. She raised her wand and whispered a small Lumos that even though very weak hurt Hermione's eyes.

"Who are you?" Hermione questioned through squinting eyes.

The blond woman in front of her leered eerily.

"My name is Astoria Greengrass, and you my dear Hermione Granger are now my prisoner."


	35. Collaboration

**A/N: I just what to say... WE FREAKIN WON EUROVISION SONG CONTEST! I'M SO HAPPY THAT I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! Loreen with Euphoria, check it out on YouTube or Spotify if you haven't already heard it! **

**For those of you who don't know, it's just as the name says, a song contest that every country in Europe can participate in. Usually neighbouring countries just vote for each other (as you can't vote for yourself) and takes a bit of the competition out of the competition. And for a country up north without that many neighbours it gets pretty hard to win. BUT THIS YEAR WE DID IT! **

**Can't breath... I wrote half this chapter during the contest but now I'm too happy to go into writers-mood again. Will write the end tomorrow though, promise! (and this turns into a more mental note for me to actually finish it as you won't read this until it's up anyway – see! My brain has left the building!)**

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><p><strong>Collaboration<strong>

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><p>"What do you mean she has been kidnapped?" Harry yelled at the two other men as soon as he arrived at the apartment.<p>

"Look around you Potter!" Draco spat, "Do you have another explanation for this?" he swung his arm around to emphasizethe total destruction of the flat.

He opened his mouth only to close it again as he for the first time took a good look around. What he saw made chills run down his spine. The burn marks on the walls, the trashed furniture, the broken mirrors and paintings, his nightmares coming to life once again.

He, Ron and Hermione had been through so much during the war and sacrificed so much to ensure peace in the world. They had all wanted to leave memories like this, seeing a home completely trashed. And it was not a random home; this was Hermione's, a home which he had frequently visited during the last years.

To see it destroyed only fuelled the anxiety that had grown ever since he got the call from Zabini. Hermione was the closest he had to a sister, he considered her family despite not being related by blood. He felt rather guilty for not showing that he supported her no matter what, these last weeks but he had really thought that she and Ron would stick together like he and Ginny. What he had been most disappointed to was that she hadn't spoken with him. The break-up had come as much as a chock to him as it had come to Ron.

It hurt that she hadn't even attempted to talk with him about it, but after Ginny's persistent nagging and numerous explanations he had started to see why she had chosen not to. It was true that he would have tried to talk her out of it but as he had come to realise it was Hermione's life, and if she felt trapped and that the relationship didn't work it was up to her to end it.

But he hadn't had the chance to tell her this in person. It had taken him quite a lot of time to make him see clearly, and that Malfoy was her new boyfriend had not helped to speed the process.

But now she was gone and Malfoy looked as distressed as he felt. He would never have thought that he would have something in common with his school-nemesis but here they were. Both desperately wanting to find her and get her home safely.

He closed his piercing green eyes behind the trademark glasses and took a long calming breath. When he opened his eyes again he squared his shoulders and went into what Hermione used to call his business-mode. "What happened? What do you know, tell me everything from the start."

Malfoy seemed to see the change in his posture because he nodded and inclined for Harry to follow him and Blaise into the kitchen, the only place that was relatively untouched by the earlier night's events.

"We were supposed to go to Blaise's for dinner tonight, and we had decided to meet outside the gates to Zabini Manor ten minutes before that. You know how punctual she usually is so I was quite surprised when she didn't show up on time. I decided to wait a few more minutes to see if she simply forgot her purse or something, even if I didn't believe she did." Draco added the last line at Harry's snort. Hermione never forgot things.

"When she didn't show up then either I knew something had happened. I ran to Blaise to see if she had gone inside before I came, but she wasn't there either. After that I apparated directly here, only to find the flat in this state. I then called Blaise, and when he got here he called you."

Harry nodded throughout the explanation, it was the same things he probably should have done but it was one thing that was off about the story. Why where they meeting outside the Manor? With Malfoy's upbringing Harry would have assumed that he would pick Hermione up by the door. "Why didn't you meet up with her here? Isn't that standard for courtship?"

Malfoy exchanged an unspoken question with Zabini who nodded in confirmation. "We had a fight the day before and wanted some time alone but we still wanted to go to the dinner so we decided to meet outside."

"May I ask what the fight was about?" Harry asked a bit intrigued now.

Malfoy uttered a sigh of defeat, a sound that Harry never thought he would hear from the man. "We had a fight, because I overreacted when she told me that she was pregnant."

"WHAT?"

"That's what she told me. I went ballistic, and left. And before you say something, yes I know that I did wrong and now I deeply regret my actions."

"Wow... Um..let's just focus on how to find her, shall we, and we will deal with _that_ later."

"Agreed."

"We searched the apartment but didn't find anything that the kidnappers might have left, but then again we're not aurors." Zabini said in a change of topic to get them back to the main discussion.

"We did go through half of her letter though. There were some letters that may have some information, there were some phrase in one of those who I recognize but can't remember from what..." Draco tailed off in thought.

"What letters?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"Threats, hate-letters, death threats. She didn't told you about those?" Draco asked in confusion.

"No..."

"She had received stuff like that during the last couple of years, I thought she would have told you..."

"No." The word came out as a growl from Harry as he became quite frustrated at his friend. She always thought she could handle things on her own and never wanted to trouble him with her worries. She liked to be independent and he respected that, but receiving such those types of letters should be reported to the ministry for her own safety.

Only Hermione would be stubborn enough to refuse help from the ministry or her best friend.

"Okay," Harry started putting his feelings aside. It was time to become productive. "I will make a quick sweep of the flat, while you continue to go through the letters. I will also search for her notepad because the Hermione I know would not have receiving those letters for years without trying to find those who wrote it."

His answer was two stiff nods from each of the men seated at the kitchen table, both with serious expressions on their faces. With their acceptance of the plan he turned around to find clues of the fucker that had kidnapped his best friend.

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><p>"It was this phrase I recognize vaguely," Draco said when all of them was seated at the table one hour later. "'You disgrace the land we walk on.' It's there, in one of the early letters as well as in the most recent. I think I've also heard it somewhere but who's said it I can't remember." Draco pushed forward two of the letters, one shorter and one longer.<p>

Harry grabbed the two letters and started to read them through while Blaise scratched his head in thought.

"You're right. I think I've heard it as well... Wasn't it Mr. Greengrass that always spoke about disgrace, a lot of other people used it as well, but if I recall correctly disgrace was kind of his slogan. Something he spoke vehemently about."

"You're right." Draco said as now recalled all those awful meetings they had been forced to attend where the main purpose was to talk badly of muggles and muggle-borns.

"But Mr. Greengrass is in Azkaban, he couldn't have done it." Harry said after considering the former Slytherins information.

"But his daughters aren't." Draco said slowly.

"Isn't Daphne dating a muggle-born now? I think Pansy said something about it, so she wouldn't have any resentment against them. That only leaves us with..." Blaise tailed off and locked eyes with his mate. The blonde seemed to have reached the same conclusion because his expression had gone from thoughtful to rigid.

His mouth turned into a sour expression as he spat out the name. "Astoria."

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><p><strong>Sorry for the unusual long delay but school has truly been breathing down my neck these last weeks, and with the computer crashing and all, I had to rewrite a lot of school stuff – booooring! It was actually two days, but hopefully you guys won't cyber-murder me or anything... I hope you liked it and Please check our Loreen! <strong>**She truly deserves it! **


	36. Neglected rules

**A/N: Another chappie! Yeay! The school year's basically over so I will have much more time dedicated to writing than before. Ah... That's a happy thought! Now, I will probably go on a vacation next week (note probably as my mother has decided to play cool and see if she can get some last-minute tickets... I'm not overjoyed by the idea..) and I pray for a hotel with wifi. I will try to update before, and maybe during next week depending on the Internet situation, but I will at least try to write a couple of chappies during the trip. As always read and review! **

**Pssst! ***whispers*** I noticed that I just got 180 reviews (making the Pocoyo-dance - from the Spanish TV-programme with the same name, don't ask. Blame my Spanish teacher.) and I realized that I'm nearing the 200 mark. Help me reach it please? It would be so bloody fantastic!**

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><p><strong>Neglected rules<strong>

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><p>"Astoria Greengrass?" Potter said a bit lost by the drastic turn in the conversation.<p>

"I'm afraid so..." Blaise said tiredly.

Draco only felt dread.

_Fuck. Fuck. FUCK._

Why did it have to be her? Because there was no question in his mind whether or not it was actually she who had kidnapped Hermione. It all fit perfectly. The motives, her actions, everything because of him.

Sure, the letters weren't just from Astoria and he wasn't completely sure the last letter was just from her; some of the phrases didn't co-exist with the rest of her. Phrases that were too outspoken for someone with her kind of upbringing to say aloud, especially for a woman. But it was his fall nonetheless. No actually it wasn't, it was his father's and stubborn pure-blooded believes.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Fucking arranged marriages. Fucking pureblood society. Fucking Astoria for not letting it go!

"Draco, mate?" Blaise questioned tentatively when Draco had been quiet for at least five minutes, grumbling in his own thoughts.

"Why do I always have to fuck up?" He questioned rhetorically, more to himself than to the other two males in the room.

"This time it's not your fault!" Blaise's vehement statement dragged Draco out from the stream of thoughts that flooded his mind.

He turned around sadly to face Blaise. "But it is."

"How can this be your fault?" Potter asked, confused once again by the conversation.

Draco turned to him and let out a heavy sigh. Where to start? Everything's past commitments and by today's standards hollow promises. Had he mentioned how much he'd grown to despise the pureblooded society?

"Before the war ended purebloods held very tightly to their customs, as you probably already know. There were those about not socializing with muggles, believing that we were better than them, but that's only just a small fraction of all the customs in the ancient society. There were laws within the circles and within families. All the prominent families also had a book with laws of conduct for just their family.

"When Voldemort was defeated and prejudices and discrimination because of blood became abolished the other customs where left as well. They didn't fit in the new society. Some are still there, like manners and how to behave in certain situations but they are only left because they don't affect the rest of the society in any way."

Draco took another deep breath, now to the tough part.

"One of the customs that where left behind were arranged marriages. Some, like us," nodded his head in Blaise's direction. "Were eternally grateful, we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives with insufferable women we hardly knew. Some like Astoria took the decision a lot harder."

"Let me guess," Harry said when Draco stopped in his explanation. "She was supposed to marry you?"

Draco nodded in affirmation. He had definitely not been happy about the match. "My father picked her out when I was fifteen. I hadn't much say in the choice, but after the war such arrangements became annulled much to my happiness and her dismay. She came banging on our door to the manor and tried force mother into making another arrangement. I suppose she went after mother because she knew I would never agree to it, nevertheless mother finally saw how crazy she were and sent the house-elfs to deport her from our property and altered our wards directly after. Now every time she tries to cross our boarder she gets electrified and pushed back ten meters, it was quite amusing to watch actually, how she tried time after time. She can certainly be persistent, but this was close to four years ago and I haven't heard from her in two. I thought she had let it go."

"Crazy bitches never let go." Blaise countered.

"Touché."

"So..." Potter began, gathering up all the information and draw the same conclusions as both the Slytherins. "She kidnapped Hermione because she's jealous of her for being together with you?"

"That's the most likely explanation, everything fits, but at the same time this is only speculations based on a phrase we found in only two letters. That's not exactly reliable."

"Still, that's our only speculation up to this point, and quite a valid one if I may say so, I think we should investigate a bit further, gathering more evidence." Blaise reasoned.

"Yeah, and this second letter, I'm not quite sure that this is solely Astoria's doing." Potter said as he compared the two letters containing the same phrase. "This first one is much more well-written. There's a thread through the whole letter, it's following a pattern, and the writer's got a purpose. The second one..." he shook his head. "If you hadn't noticed the same phrase I would never have guessed that this was written by the same person. It's threat after threat, homicide with words. I don't think even a jealous girl like Astoria can write in such way."

Potter's got a point, the letters were very different, and the first certainly sounded much more like Astoria. So they're back to square one? No... Astoria must have something to do with this, her motives fits too perfectly.

"Can she have influenced someone else to use the same phrase?" Blaise asked aloud.

"It's possible, but who can be dumb enough to listen to her?" Draco said.

Blaise laughed a half hearted laugh. "True."

"Do you have some kind of list of still free Death Eaters?" Draco asked Potter after some minutes in silence.

"Yeah, it's a very rough draft though. Basically it's just a list of purebloods that we haven't been able to find, and assumed that they had gone into hiding. We haven't found a way to verify the list yet."

"Could you get it? Maybe we can find someone that might have a connection to Astoria, if we assume that she's still in the middle of this."

"Sure. It's at the ministry so I will have to go over there. In the mean time why don't you do a list of people you think Astoria can have some sort of influence over, so we can crosscheck when I get back."

"Yeah, that would be helpful," Blaise said and conjured a parchment and a quill. "Can you see if there are some blueprints over the Greengrass estate as well? I bet, if it's her, that Hermione would be hold prisoner there, and blueprints would certainly help the rescue operation."

"Good idea, I will be back in tops twenty minutes. When I get back I want to see that list ready, I don't want Hermione in some crazy bitch claws any longer than necessary." Potter stated and disapparated before either of the two former Slytherins had time to answer.

_So do I Potter, so do I._ Draco thought before snatching the quill and started with help from Blaise to list all of Astoria's suspected accomplices.

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><p><strong>AN: Just realized that this is Draco Malfoy's 32 birthday! Big congratulations from here in Sweden!**


	37. Motives

**A/N: Hey guys! Another update cool huh? As it turns out I do go on vacation. Tomorrow! Mallorca here we come! And a little bird whispered in my ear that the hotel may actually have wifi. Interesting...**

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><p><strong>Motives <strong>

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><p><em>Oh Merlin! Did this girl like to hear her own voice or what! <em>Hermione thought after listening to Astoria going on about how Hermione messed up her latest shopping trip during the past 20 minutes.

Astoria kidnapped _her_ and all she had been talking about was how Hermione screwed up her scheduled shopping spree. Seriously? Like she demanded to be kidnapped!

"…And that's how you cost me the French designer shoes I've been looking for the last six months!"

Hermione had enough of this, she'd rather have torture than listening to one more word about clothes. No, she wouldn't, but she really wanted to be left alone! Shouldn't a kidnapped person be locked up alone until they trembled with fear for what the kidnappers would do to them? And how could shoes be THAT important?

"I'm sorry I interrupted your shopping spree but I didn't ask to be kidnapped! I would be more than happy to leave if you would let me."

Astoria's beautiful face twisted into something close to an evil smile. During Astoria's triad the past half an hour Hermione had tried to find a flaw in her seemingly perfect appearance but had not found one, until now. The eerie smile she now displayed made Hermione wish for an end to the shoe crisis story. That smile could not mean anything good.

"But I would love to hear about why you have been looking for those shoes in six months."

"Oh no," her eerie just grew wider. "You're right. It seems like I have been somewhat sidetracked. Please forgive me that was not my intention. You see I can be a bit obsessed when it comes to clothes."

"You don't say.." Astoria gave her a pointed look at the comment but otherwise ignored it.

"I suppose you want to know why you've been kidnapped."

"Yes, that would be very kind of you." Hermione said sarcastically. She may look cool and level-headed on the outside but on the inside Hermione's feelings and thoughts were in turmoil. She was not afraid to confess that she was scared out of her wits, but she was at the same time insanely curious why she had been kidnapped.

"Well, it's just that you got in the way mudblood. If you hadn't done that, then I would've been happy just to keep sending letters. You should know not to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and such actions have consequences.

"You see. I would have loved to subtitle separate you and my Draco. But then Marcus reported something utterly repulsing when he shadowed you to your healers appointment yesterday. "

'_My Draco'? hmm… so that's what all this is about. But wait! Did she just say that Flint followed me? Oh Merlin! That must mean that she knows…_

Unconsciously her hand reached her stomach, as both a reminder and as protection.

"Good. You seem to know what I'm talking about. This was highly unfortunate, but a baby would bind you and Draco together forever, and I can't accept that. You see… I have been patient, knowing that he will return to me eventually, but-"

"Return? Did you ever have him before?" Hermione interrupted, extremely doubtful that Draco would ever have been with a psycho like her.

"Didn't he tell you? We were engaged." Her ice-blue eyes glistered dreamily before they turned to stone.

_What! They had been engaged?_ "I noticed the past tense, so why don't you do like Draco and put it behind you?" The statement had made her heart hammer louder than she thought was even possible. Had he been engaged to this basketcase? But then she'd noticed the key word in the sentence: were. Instantly she had become more relaxed. Relaxed enough to aim a blow at Astoria.

That may not have been the smartest thing Hermione had done in her life.

Suddenly she received a hard slap that made her chin and cheek go numb and forced her head to the side. The aftershock echoed through her skull and Hermione's brain felt like it had turned to mush.

It was probably not the hardest hit in the history of the world but with her previous injuries that sole hit made her see spots again.

Somewhere in the dizziness she was quite astounded that the bitch actually touched her. She had thought that Astoria would be the kind to use her wand rather actually physically hit someone. Well the bitch certainly never seemed to surprise her.

And Hermione was not ashamed to use such a strong word as bitch against her. She didn't usually use that kind of language but that's what Astoria was, a bitch, and it isn't mean if it's true.

But really she must have offended her quite a bit with her comment if Astoria would just hit her like that. _Note to self: don't try to enrage Astoria Greengrass when held captive._

"It may have been past tense but let me tell you this mudblood," She whispered in a deadly low voice as she hunched down to Hermione's level. "I _will _get him back. You will not end a completely pure bloodline. That would be a disgrace to every ancestor that has put down heart and soul to carefully select the right spouse, to ensure blood purity for centuries. You and your kind disgrace the land we walk on, but I can't do anything to change that when not even the Dark Lord managed it. However, what I can change is who will be the future Mrs. Malfoy. And I will do anything in my power to ensure that that will be me. Starting with eliminating you!"

Hermione was still stuck on the floor, not daring to move. Was she really going to kill her? She had never have time to think about what the purpose was for the kidnapping, and after she understood that it was about separating her from Draco she still hadn't really thought about what was going to happen to her.

Now realising that her life might be over, she felt and overwhelming horror and sadness – not for herself, but for her unborn child. It was supposed to be born, take its first steps, go to Hogwarts and live a long and happy life. She might have only known about the little bugger for a couple of days, but it was hers and she would do anything in her power to save it.

She didn't want to know her fate, but she had to ask anyway. She had to have all the facts.

"Are you going to kill me?" she was surprised that she managed to keep her voice steady, but she was glad it was. Hermione didn't what Astoria to know how scared she really was.

Astoria let out fanatic laugh. "Kill you? Why would I do that?"

"But you said you were going to eliminate me?" Hermione questioned again, not understanding but feeling insanely relived that her and her baby's life would not end tonight.

"Yes, eliminate you as a threat to the position of being Mrs. Malfoy. I always assumed that those who called you Brightest Witch of the Age were lying, and I guess I was right. Do you really think that Draco would be with me after I killed his last girlfriend? Of course not! That sadly leaves out option nr 1; even if that was the one I would have been voting for. Now I'll have to go for option nr 2 which means that I will torture you until you give up your relationship with Draco." She said with a false smile.

"But let's start with that tomorrow, shall we?" she continued as she rose from her hunched position beside Hermione before heading to the cell door.

Just as she was about to leave the cell she stopped and turned back to Hermione.

"Oh, and just to be clear, that child has to go. We can't have a half-blood bastard running around, can we?" She started to laugh that creepy, fanatic girlish laugh that that bounced across the dungeon as she closed the heavy door.

Hermione still sat leaning against the wall with her heart sinking in her chest as she heard the laugh fade away in the corridor beyond her cell door.

She would survive this, but her baby would not. For the first time since the kidnapping started Hermione felt her eyes water up and tears rolled down her cheeks for the loss of a baby she hadn't even had the chance to meet yet.

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><p><strong>AN: Just two things: shoes **_**can**_** be that important and the motto: 'it isn't mean if it's true' comes from Vicxie22 and quite sums up our relationship. I think the mean things, and she puts my thoughts into words = epicness complete! **


	38. Slytherins

**A/N: Mallorca is hot! My freckles are starting to eat up my nose (you can barely see any skin there! Okay yes you can, I'm exaggerating) and I think I may have slightly burned myself in some places, but what don't you do for the perfect tan? Don't worry though, I use sunscreen so **_**I won't**_** get cancer and be unable to write the rest of this story, I'm as healthy as ever!**

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><p><strong>Slytherins<strong>

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><p>"It feels like we have written down every Slytherin in our age!" Blaise exclaimed frustrated after fifteen minutes of furious brainstorming for possible accomplices.<p>

"I know but at the same time, it's Astoria we're talking about. And Merlin knows she was never the one for house unity." Draco said equally frustrated. This list was all about finding out the younger Greengrass's accomplice and they were almost positive that it was a former Slytherin. But that didn't take away the feeling that they were hunting a former brother or sister.

"Okay... which of these would Astoria have any possible contact with, and more importantly which would be dumb enough to follow her?" Blaise continued as he stood up from the kitchen table.

"Where are you going?"

"Making coffee, got the feeling like we'll need it tonight. Continue, I will help from over here." He said as he made the way towards Hermione's coffee pot.

"Smart," Draco said nodding approvingly at his friend before diving once again into the seemingly impossible task of figuring this whole mess out. "Well we have Theo, who if I remember correctly had a thing with Astoria a while ago."

"Yes, but Theo's not stupid. And he would never follow Astoria during a crazy streak like this. Didn't he end things because he thought she got too clingy, anyway? Shouldn't that mean that he would be very unlikely to follow her now?"

"Yeah, I think you're right. I haven't met him in quite a while but still he's Theo, I don't know what I would do if it turned out to be him." Draco said turning to see Blaise nodding as he searched the cupboards after two cups. "Second cupboard on the left." He told him before turning back to the list. It was close to fifty names there, girls – boys, old – young.

"Thanks, who's next?"

"The next most obvious would have been Goyle, he's dumb enough and always liked Astoria for some unknown reason, but he's in Azkaban so we can rule him out immediately."

"The dumb fuck... How one could be so stupid is beyond me."

"Me too, but he and Crabbe did have their uses back in school. Anyway another one who has been trapped in Astoria's net over the years is Flint. I never liked him, he completely lacked sense in Quidditch strategy and how he became captain of the Slytherin team I can't even begin to understand. The whole school noticed the change in the team after I took over, and I don't say that to brag!"

Blaise raised a quizzical eyebrow at the blonde.

"Well maybe a little." Draco admitted.

"That's what I thought." Blaise mumbled as he turned back to the now done coffee and began to pour it into the cups, before bringing them to the table.

Then a pop was heard from the living room indicating that Potter was back from the ministry. A couple of seconds later he came banging into the kitchen with a bunch of papers in his arms.

"Great, coffee!" Potter said and snatched Blaise's cup from his hands, and took a hefty sip. "I really needed that."

Blaise and Draco stared from the scarred faced man in front of them to each other. "Okay then... I will make another batch." Blaise said and tentatively backed away from the clearly flustered man who just stole his drink.

"So what did you find?" Draco asked after he recovered from the slight shock he got by Potters forwardness. They were not enemies anymore with Hermione in the picture but they were certainly not friends and the way Potter acted was not normal. But he guessed that abnormal circumstances called for abnormal actions, even if it creeped him out.

"The list of Death Eaters weren't so hard to find, especially if you work in the Auror department, but the blueprints weren't so easy. Apparently not many purebloods want to give blueprints of their estate to the ministry."

"Wonder why." Came a sarcastic response from the dark skinned man in the kitchen, and Draco couldn't do anything other than agree. Leaving out estate blueprints would give the ministry control over large part of the family's business as a large part of everything they did was connected to the house in some way. A way for pure-blooded families to ensure that their winnings would be kept inside the family.

"I did however," Potter continued ignoring the comment. "Find a few prints, about a century old, from when they wanted to expand the estate with its west wing, and had to seek permission to import a special stone from the Ural-mountains they wanted to build the facade with. Apparently the wizarding world can't ship that large amounts of stone and they had to contact the muggle authorities."

"Oka… well at least there's something. I've been there a couple of times so I'll probably recognize some of it, as for the list we have come up with nearly fifty names. We can still rule out some more but let's crosscheck first so we don't have to do any unnecessary work."

Merlin knew the time rolled away without them doing unnecessary things.

Blaise returned to the table with a new cup of coffee and took the list from Potters pile. "I'll read the names aloud and you'll mark them if they match."

"Or we can do this." Draco said and grabbed the paper from Blaise's hands and piled it on top of the other list. Then the he pointed his wand at the stack of paper and mumbled an incantation. Shortly after he was done some names that appeared on both sheets began to glow.

"That's a neat little trick, where did you learn that?" Blaise said in amazement as he grabbed the paper and checked which names were listed on both of them.

"Did you really think I read all those books I was looking through before a big assignment at Hogwarts?"

"Well, yeah. I thought you had lost it completely by sixth year, so in reality you were just scanning a paper on top of those books and, what? Found the right pages to read without having to read though every chapter?"

"Yup, that's about it, Salazar knew I had enough on my mind that year to even think about focusing on a book."

Somewhere along the conversation Potter had snatched the other sheet and looked at the glowing names. "There's Nott, Montague, Flint, Pucey, Bole and Tracey Davis." He said making the other two focus once again at the task at hand.

"We were discussing Theo before you came back and we don't think he would help Astoria. As for Tracey she goes no longer after the name Davis. She married Montague and they live together in France now, with some relatives of his." Blaise said and as a way of explaining he added, "She and Pansy writes sometimes."

"So that leaves Flint, Pucey and Bole." Potter declared. "I say we go now, we have reduced the number drastically so we won't be that surprised for what's coming. I'll call for back-up and we can be ready to leave within the hour."

Potter had started to pack the blueprints and hadn't noticed the lack of response from the other two who bluntly stared at him.

Was he suicidal?

"What?" he said after about a minute and he still hadn't got any response.

"We're Slytherins," Blaise said slowly as if talking to a child.

"We value self-preservation." Draco filled in, talking in an equally slow voice. He was ecstatic that they had come this close to figuring everything out, but he would not throw himself into something he wasn't completely sure of. They didn't have room for mistakes and there for therefore they needed a waterproof plan. This, whatever Potter was planning, was not it.

"We only have one chance of success and I will not throw that away by some rushed attempt at rescue." Draco said to Potter holding the other mans gaze to make him see that he was serious. "If Astoria was clever enough to break in to into Hermione's flat, I'll be sure that she won't just let us stomp into her home. She must had have placed some serious wards and traps for just such actions you were about to throw yourself in.

"She's a Slytherin, remember that. She was sorted into that house for a reason. And to beat a Slytherin you'll have think like one."


	39. Maps

**Maps**

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><p>"Before we go rushing into an unprepared rescue mission we need to have a better understanding of the grounds. We need to look at the wards and the traps. We need to be sure that we can get in safely, unheard, so that they won't hurt Hermione further." Draco continued when it was clear that Potter had seen some logic in his reasoning.<p>

"We have the list of the narrowed-down accomplices so we should probably continue with the blueprints. Draco do you think you can sketch a relatively precise map of the estate and its surroundings? That way we may have the basic entrances and may be able to estimate where she has set up her wards or traps." Blaise said following in Draco's tracks.

"Yes, I think I might. Potter can you give me the blueprints?" Draco answered and conjured a parchment and a coal-quill that was easier to draw with than ink.

Potter gave him the blueprints that he still had in his hands but he still didn't seem very pleased. "But after that we will go and check it out, look for traps and search for wards, deal?

"Deal, we should get a look for ourselves and not rely on suspicions. It might turn out were completely wrong, but at the same time I don't want to go there and just play it by ear. The longer we stay in Astoria's territory the more we risk being seen, which equals a larger risk to Hermione's safety, which is something I don't gamble with." Draco answered and started to draw the Greengrass estate.

"Well I can't just sit here and watch you doodle!" Potter exclaimed and threw his hands up in frustration. "It's a waste of time!"

"We _need_ that map," Blaise countered. "But if you want something to do why don't you go and recruit some of your auror fellows that can help us when we _can_ go."

"Do that. We will need it later." Draco agreed, still bent over the parchment on which an early outline of the estate was now visible.

"Okay, I will be back as soon as possible. Send a patronus if you need me." Potter said backing out of the kitchen and disapparated by the front door.

"How that man came to be an auror surprises me. He has absolutely no patience!" Blaise said and took a seat across from Draco.

Draco just snorted and kept drawing the estate. It was a lot harder than he's originally thought to draw an entire estate, especially since there had been a couple of years since his last visit.

"How's it going?" Blaise asked and peeked across the table to see the work in progress.

"I don't know. It's hard because I know every detail is important and it's not like I know the manor well, not like mine, yours or Pansy's. And I have never been to the dungeons, and I've only seen the entrance to it once, and that was like a decade ago. I just don't want to be wrong."

"I know, try to focus solely on the bottom floor and the grounds. That should probably make it easier and that's also where we'll only be."

Draco nodded and kept sketching. Even though he only needed to draw one floor, this was going to take awhile.

* * *

><p>The sketch was suddenly snatched away from under his eyes as the table came closer and closer. Draco's head hit the table hard and the impact made his mind clear a bit. He had kept working in the sketch for over two hours and he just needed to do a few alterations before he could call it finished when his body reminded him that he hadn't slept in almost 36 hours. Not since Hermione told him she was pregnant. Merlin that felt like a eternity ago!<p>

"Draco, when was the last time you slept?" Blaise said as he studied the map which he had been quick enough to save from being completely smudged out.

"The night till yesterday? Do we have more coffee?" he asked and looked around the table for his cup.

"No, no, no! You can't run on coffee! What you need is sleep, besides we can't go now anyway. It's midnight and that's when it is the most guarded, if I'm correct with assuming that Astoria play's it old school."

"I can't sleep now! Draco exclaimed and rose for the chair he had sat on for hours.

"You were about to fall asleep a minute ago! We'll go in the early morning, then we will see more anyway. That leaves some hours for you to take a nap." Blaise said determinately and rose from his seat as well, walking around the table until he had a grip on Draco's upper arm. The man didn't even know he was swaying on his feet.

Blaise didn't leave the object up for discussion but started to drag him to Hermione's bedroom and shoved him down on the bed.

Draco had every intention at objecting but when he felt how soft the pillow was against his cheek and how much of Hermione it smelled he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. A tiny nap wouldn't hurt, would it?

* * *

><p>"Where's Malfoy?" Potter asked sometime later when he came back from assembling some aurors to the task.<p>

"He's asleep." Blaise answered from the kitchen where he sat studying the new map.

"What? How can he be asleep?"

"He had been up for 36 hours, and he needs the sleep if he's going to function during the rescue." Blaise said calmly and gave the map to Potter so he could check before he continued.

"I was thinking maybe we could go just to get a look at its defences while he's asleep."

Potter looked up from the detailed map in his hands. "Without Malfoy?" his eyebrows were nearly touching his hairline.

"Like I said he needs the rest and it would be more effective if we did it this way. He will understand."

"Will he?" Potter asked doubtfully.

"Well hopefully when he sees that it's the most effective way. Still I think now is not the best time though, let wait until maybe three?" Blaise explained.

"Why not now?"

"We believe that Astoria keeps to the old traditions just like Voldemort did, that the highest risk for attack is by midnight, hence the most guarded hour, and that the perfect time for meetings is by sunrise or sundown. Quite pathetic but true. And if we go around three we have the chance to check for wards or traps before someone comes around sunrise for maybe a meeting."

"Okay sounds good, but how do you know it will be a meeting?" Potter asked nodding at the explanation he just got.

"I don't but I hope. Now let look at the map and see if there's any incantation to where the wards might be drawn."

* * *

><p>At ten minutes past three that morning they stood just outside the first ward of the manor. They had apparated to a small village nearby and then walked to the rest of the way. Besides Blaise Potter did some sort of scan.<p>

"There are two wards I can detect from here, one anti-apparition and one that locks out unwelcomed visitors. But there may be more wards closer to the actual building. From experience on these sort of houses there's usually a revealing ward just outside the house, which tells the owners who's coming to visit. As for any traps I can't see any from here either."

Blaise nodded, he hadn't thought it would be that easy. "We see the front entrance from here, but we should check to see how the other entrances are located. According to Draco's drawing it's the east wing's entrance is closest to the dungeons."

They started to move stealthy around the grounds towards the east wing, carefully keeping a distance from the wards that also made them walk a longer path than they had first thought. Half an hour later they were able to see the east doors though a little forest that dotted this side of the estate.

"What do you think?" Blaise asked.

"Well this door seems a lot simpler to enter than the main one, but being located so close to the dungeons, I think it will be heavily locked and trapped from the inside." Potter said ruffling his hair in thought.

They started to make their way back to the front when it was clear that they wouldn't be able to enter that way when they heard a hair-rising scream. Hermione's scream.

"We're at least certain that this is the right place." Blaise when he's found his ability to speak again.

"This is so frustrating! I can't go in, you can't go in, Malfoy probably can go in but when the charm reveals it's him Astoria knows something's wrong!" Potter said clearly not knowing what to do when he heard his friend being tortured. The remaining walk was kept in silence, both men haunted by the girl's screams.

Maybe it was a good thing Draco wasn't here after all. Merlin knows how he would have handled it.

After a couple of minutes Blaise spoke up again. "What we need is someone on the inside."

Potter just nodded and kept walking in silence.

They were almost back at their starting point when they saw a figure cross the lawns heading for the door. Quickly they hid behind some rosebushes just when the figure turned back to see if he was followed.

The faint glow from the moon was enough to let them see his face. Flint.

"We need Flint."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I feel like 'sorry' is not a strong word enough for this massive delay, but even though I'm home from the vacation I'm far from relaxed. I have just started my summer job and I'm taking my driver's licence next week (or I will try at least) which equals studying time for the written exam. Lovely (note the sarcasm). I don't know how hard taking driver's licence is in your country but here in Sweden it's pretty though. The written part is 65 questions in 50 minutes where you have to have at least 52 right answers. Then you have the practical test in which a cranky old person beside you who watches you like an eagle. **

**Anyway enough about me. To make up for the delay I have written a Pilot for my new fic which I'm going to start with AFTER I've finished this one. I just had to get down all my ideas before I forgot them. But don't fret, I will finish this before I start to write any more on the other one, I just want to see what you think. So check it out!**


	40. Pain

**A/N: I have always wondered why I don't like the colour pink (especially the cerise, I don't have a problem with the dusty, old types of pink). Every other girl seems to be totally fascinated by it. I the Order of the Phoenix the other day and I think I've finally understood why. Two words: Dolores Umbridge. She has scarred me for life!**

* * *

><p><strong>Pain<strong>

* * *

><p>"AAAAAAAH!" Hermione's scream echoed through the dungeon, but the deafening sound was not nearly enough to describe the excruciating pain that was in every cell in her body.<p>

It felt like every bone in her body were slowly being crushed, like she was on fire, like she was being cut open by thousands of knives, everything at once.

"Crucio!" Astoria raised her wand higher and the pain reached another level of unbearable.

It felt like the pain had been going on for hours, and it wouldn't end. All she ever wanted was for it to end, it hurt too much! She couldn't think, she couldn't move, all she could do was to scream.

And Hermione screamed. She screamed for her life, for her unborn child's life, and for the life she would probably not have with Draco. She screamed until her voice started to crack, and her throat begun to burn. But she could not stop, even though she didn't want to sound weak, she couldn't help it. It was the only outlet of the pain she had.

Astoria's maniacal laughter ringed above Hermione's screams. How a person could enjoy torturing anybody was beyond her.

Suddenly the pain stopped and all Hermione's muscles turned to mush after straining themselves from the pain. Her limbs were shaking from the exhaustion and all she could do was to look up at the crazy woman above her.

"Stop, please stop." Hermione begged in a voice hoarse from screaming. Her baby was about to die, if it wasn't already, but she would protect it till the very end, even if it meant to beg for both of their lives.

"Why would I? You stole him from me. Stole him! And I intend to take him back, and you have to pay! Crucio!"

And the pain started again, equally unbearable and excruciating. Now tears accompanied her screams and she understood how Neville's parents became insane by this very curse.

The pain was in every cell of her body. It screamed in every part of her brain. Hot and searing, slow and sharp. It's a wonder that the curse didn't leave physical damages; it felt like her whole body should be massacred by now.

Wait. The curse didn't leave physical damages? Did that mean that the baby would be fine? But Frank and Alice Longbottom had permanent damages, but they were psychological, not physical. But the baby was so small and fragile, even the tiniest bump could probably kill it and Hermione had got her fair share of hits that night.

And she couldn't do a damn thing to prevent it, not without her wand, and now she was to beat up to use any wandless magic. Then the pain stopped again and it felt like she could finally breathe. She panted like she'd just ran a marathon, but every breath made her horribly aware of her broken rib and all her other physical damages.

"It hurts doesn't it? But you deserve this, and you know it. A dirty mudblood like you aren't meant to end up with the most pure of purebloods. I'm just making you see reason."

Astoria hunched down so that she got to Hermione's level and shoved her hard on the shoulder so that the fell over on her back. Pain shot up her ribs and she let out an involuntary gasp of pain.

"Oh, did I hurt you? That was not my intention." She continued and emphasised the last sentence with a poke in the ribs by each word.

Gasps got stuck on each other and new tears rolled down her cheeks, she hated being tortured. Being tortured by Bellatrix had been terrifying mostly because who it was who tortured her but it had been short and intense. And mainly she didn't have to worry about the life inside her tummy.

Astoria had a more personal reason for this torture, even if it was a ludicrous one, and that made it all the scarier.

As she lay there on the stone floor she could not help but think that this might actually be the end. She might not see the sun rise again despite that Astoria said she wouldn't. She didn't trust that crazy bitch one bit. She would probably get carried away by the torturing she inflicted on her and forget to stop. She would die by the hands of a delusional person, not the very Gryffindor way to go.

* * *

><p>"Where have you two been?" Draco shouted the moment Blaise and Harry returned to Hermione's flat.<p>

He was livid.

He'd woken up sometime before dawn and had instantly known something was wrong. First, he should have not slept for so long. He'd admitted to himself that he really did need some sleep just before he drifted off, but it was supposed to be a nap, not a four hour sleep! Then he noticed that he was all alone in the flat. The two bastards had gone somewhere without him. Without waking him up! Now he had wasted valuable time at the expense of something as stupid as sleeping! He could have saved his girlfriend, the mother of his unborn child, and he was there sleeping!

He was the worst boyfriend ever! But that didn't mean he still wasn't angry with his supposed best mate and his one-time nemesis, he thought they had and understanding!

"We were over and checked the manors wards. They were quite impressive to-" Blaise was cut off in the middle of his explanation by a now even furious Draco.

"You were at the manor? Without me! What the fuck were you thinking?" How could they?

"You needed sleep! And we wouldn't have been able to get inside anyway. There was one anti-apparation ward and one that locked out unwelcomed visitors. We most certainly," Blaise said pointing at him and Potter. "Counts as unwelcomed and though you might be able to get in the revealing ward just by the facade would reveal you, making Astoria do merlin knows what with Hermione!"

Draco didn't have any response to that, because what they were saying was very true, but he was still angry with them for not waking him up.

"Now our only chance is to have someone on the inside, namely Flint, as he's her accomplice." Potter continued to explain.

"Flint! That son of a bitch! But how are we going to do that exactly?" Draco asked. Flint! He had known there was something seriously wrong with his former Quiddich captain.

"Well that's what we have left to figure out." Potter said, now sounding a lot more tired.

"Why don't we just imperio his stupid arse?" Draco said as a suggestion, not feeling at all sorry for suggesting the use of an unforgivable.

"We can't do that!" Potter exclaimed.

"Sure we can! This is Hermione's life were talking about saving! She's a frickin war heroine, find an exception! I'm sure the ministry would allow it if you asked nicely." He answered heatedly. He didn't care that the spell was illegal, all he did care about was getting his girlfriend back, and he wouldn't let the legality of a spell stand in his way.

"And it's not like you have a better idea! I don't want to waste any more time than we already have!"

"Yeah," Blaise said cutting in. "Imperio might be the only chance since I doubt polyjuice works or any other transformation. You should get some of those awaiting aurors to watch the perimeters so we can catch him the next time he shows up. We should not waste any more time."

"So we're absolutely certain that this is the right place? I mean Flint could just have been there to fetch something." Draco asked. They needed to be certain before they did anything at all.

"Yeah… Sorry mate, it's the place." Blaise said sounding very solemn.

"How do you know?"

"We heard her scream."


	41. The Imperius Curse

**The Imperius Curse**

* * *

><p>"What the fuck are we standing here for? We need to take action now!" Draco yelled and started to push himself past Potter and Blaise to get to the door.<p>

The confirmation that the mental bitch was actually hurting Hermione was tearing him apart, inside and out. Everything become so real so fast. He might not see her again. Not hear her laugh or see her beautiful brown eyes sparkle.

This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening. He needed to save her now, screw the obstacles, screw Potter and Blaise who had gone there without him. He was not going to wait any longer, he didn't care he was acting like a bloody Gryffindor, he was going start the frigging rescue-mission now!

"No, no you don't!" Blaise said and with the help of Potter they managed to hold back Draco from doing something that would probably cost both his and Hermione's life. "We need Flint on the inside! _We_ can't do anything without risks! Where did your Slytherin instincts go?" Blaise continued and was by the end of his little speech shaking Draco by his shoulders.

"Those instincts flew away when you made it clear that Hermione was actually being tortured!"

"I thought you guessed that already." Potter said carefully, having backed away a bit from the livid blonde.

"I guessed, yes, but I didn't know! Maybe she had just been kidnapped, the point was- I didn't know! Now I do know and it's killing me! It's eating me alive and I can't do a fucking thing! I have to do something!" Draco's eyes were ablaze, he didn't quite understand why he was spilling his guts out to Potter of all people, but he needed to make them understand.

They watched each other in the eye, trying to read the other ones intentions for a few minutes. The only thing that could be heard was Draco's heavy breaths, brought forth by his little rant.

After what felt like an eternity Potter spoke again. "I'll get the permission, and I will send some aurors to supervise the property." With that he turned on his heal and left the flat.

"We're going to save her, Draco, I promise."

"I'm just afraid of what condition we will find her in…"

* * *

><p>"I've got a group of four aurors watching the perimeters twenty-four seven, alerting us immediately if they spot Flint." Potter said when he came back from the stop at the ministry.<p>

"And the promotion? Because I'm not too picky about getting one." Draco said a bit nonchalantly. He had calmed down a little after his outburst when he'd just woken up, but he was still bitter. He didn't like people going behind his back.

"The minister wasn't too happy about that, or being interrupted this early in the morning either for that matter, but yes he agreed. Because it's Hermione we're talking about."

"Good, that's good. Now what's left is the hard part," Blaise said locking eyes with Draco. "Waiting."

Draco's jaw visibly clenched at the word. He couldn't stand any more waiting. They needed a plan to determine what to do when they got Flint under imperius curse. How would they reach Hermione? And how would they get Astoria away from her?

Getting Flint under impero would be the easy part, but how would they give him directions so he could get past Astoria without raising her suspicions? How were they going to calculate how Astoria would react and order Flint around her actions without being in a close range to give new instructions?

The whole situation was a massive web that a bug had been caught in, Hermione being the bug and Astoria the vicious spider. If the wrong thread were pulled, the whole web would collapse and trap the bug inside without a chance of ever coming out and the spider got her way in the end despite efforts.

They were going to have to tiptoe around the net blindfolded and look out for the spider at the same time. It was not going to be easy, that's for sure.

"How are we going to order Flint around when we won't see what's happening inside?" Draco asked the other two as they went to the kitchen once again. Nobody seemed up to start the cleaning of the rest of the flat that still looked like a battlefield.

"We can't just order him around when we don't know what damage we might cause." Blaise started thinking along the same lines, as Draco had thought minutes earlier.

"And I don't trust Flint near Hermione even if his under impero." Potter added and both Slytherins nodded. They wanted Hermione as far away from him as possible, but sadly he seemed to be their only way in.

"We need to get him to break the wards, that is the only way we'll be able to get in and save Hermione without letting Flint near her and without jeopardising too much." Blaise reasoned.

"Breaking wards is easier from the inside when the wards have recognized and accepted you, but it's still pretty hard when you're not the owner." Potter explained from experience, as an auror they had to do this quite often, and it was never easy.

"But let's remember that it's Flint we're talking about, he's not all that bright."

"Don't sugar-coat it Blaise, he's an idiot. He won't be able to break the wards." Draco drawled, Flint the incompetent bastard.

"If he's under the curse then we can tell him how to do it, and then we can pray he's good enough to actually break them. What I'm trying to say it that we don't have to care if he's an idiot, what we have to worry about is if he's magical abilities is strong enough." Potter explained again.

Silence hung in the air. It was hard relying everything on an idiot who probably had a crappy magical ability.

Great. Fucking fantastic.

"Do you know how to order him to break the wards?" Blaise asked turning towards Potter.

"I've done it myself a couple of times so I should be able to describe it pretty clearly, but every ward is different so once we get him we should probably question him about the special properties of the wards."

"And everything depends on Flint once again. Bloody brilliant." Draco grumbled and headed for Hermione's liquor cabinet. He couldn't stand waiting. Waiting was now number one on his list of things he hated to do.

The three sat in silence as the hours ticked by, only speaking when they wanted someone to pass the bottle of scotch Draco managed to find. They saw the late January morning sun rise and shine through the windows of the broken flat. Everything was too quiet and still. They could see the dust dance in the light of the windows giving the whole flat and eerie feeling that wasn't broken by the three defeated looking men.

Until the raven-shaped patronus came bearing the news they all had been waiting for. "We got him."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Soooo... This will be the last chapter were they're sitting on their asses, not doing much. It had to be there but I can agree that it's been quite a few boring chapters. But now the story should be turning up the heat! **

**On another note; my little sister just came home from the states and brought Harry Potter Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! Yeay! I'll come to you about the tastes, it should be interesting...**

**I would also like to remind you about my other little story, and I found a name to it as well (aren't I a good girl?)! It's called In the Halls of Hogwarts, and is just as the name proclaims about their time at Hogwarts. Take a peek if you find yourself with some spare time, I know I would. :P**


	42. Bait

**Bait**

* * *

><p>The first two seconds after the patronus had delivered its message it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. All three of them just sat there at Hermione's kitchen table wondering if it was just their imagination saying what they wanted to hear.<p>

It seemed to take all three of them those two seconds to gather their wits before they flew out of their chairs.

They had him. They fricking got Flint! Draco felt a spark of hope ignite in his chest, and it wasn't until then he understood how truly defeated he'd felt ever since she disappeared. Now he saw a light in the end of the tunnel, which was a bit preposterous because they still had to rely everything on Flint which was equal to rely on a panda to do the job. They even looked equally dumb.

Blaise grabbed the map from the table and the three of them headed for the door as fast as their feet could carry.

Within the minute they arrived at the village near the estate.

_He was almost there_, Draco thought. _Just a bit further._ He was racing once again when Potter called after him to stop. Was he insane? When he was _this_ close to her, did Potter think that it was even physically possible for him to stop? So close to beating Flint into a bloody pulp.

"Damn it Malfoy! Stop! Flint's not there, he's at the local pub!" Potter shouted again with a bit more force this time.

That made Draco stop so suddenly that he nearly tripled forward.

What? Why was he at the pub? Of course, it made more sense! In his desperate attempt to get as close to Hermione as he could, he had totally forgot about the secrecy around it all. They could not let Astoria know, or else they would never break through her wards. He needed to get his grip together; he could not afford to let such things slip his mind.

"They didn't feel safe keeping him that close to the wards; if he'd escaped, he would have used the opportunity that my men can't get past them and he can. So we decided that if they caught him, they would bring him to the local pub." Potter continued to explain as Draco made his way back, in a more reasonable pace this time.

He really needed to get a grip! He was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake, he needed to stay level headed and think logically.

"Have they cast the imperious yet?" He asked instead, trying to stay ahead, when he reached Potter and Blaise again and all three turned and walked towards the pub.

"No, the-" Potter started but was roughly cut off by Draco.

"Good, because I want to be the one who does it."

"What I was going to say Malfoy," Potter said sharply. "Was that one of the conditions the Ministry set for the permission was that I would be the one to do it."

"What? They only trust wonder boy to do it? She's my girlfriend!" Draco growled out the last sentence, sounding almost animalistic.

"Yes! That's why they don't trust you! They think you might do something rash because of your past. And they didn't even want to have you in this investigation because of your relationship with Hermione, I had to beg them to allow you in and this was their one condition."

Had Potter begged on his behalf? That was something new, but this wasn't the time to think about that because they had reached the pub.

Potter grabbed his arm and looked him in the eye. It was clear that he wanted his word that he wouldn't try to do anything.

"Fine," Draco spat. "You win, you call the shots." And then he pushed the old wooden door open and stepped in to the pub.

The pub was dark and musty, and all but empty except for the barman and the three figures seated in one of the more selected corners. He walked towards them with a steady step, determined not to let his feelings get the better of him and beating Flint unrecognizable without using him first. He could always do that after they had rescued Hermione.

Wait, didn't Potter say that there were four aurors? Where was the remaining two? He was just about to ask when Potter asked the same question to someone called Jackson.

"They're still at the estate, watching the grounds. We thought some of us should be keeping an eye on it."

Potter nodded in assent, and Draco had to silently agree that that was a smart thing to do. Not that he would tell them that. He was still angry with the Ministry, and that included the aurors.

Draco took a step to the side so he could look around the other auror's shoulder at Flint who was completely knocked out.

"What happened to him?" Blaise asked, having stepped around Draco and positioned himself at Flint's right side he poked him in the shoulder without result. Flint was dead to the world.

"We didn't want to take any unnecessary risks so we knocked him out." Said the other auror with a dark voice that made Draco think he wasn't much of a talker, more of a rough kind of guy. Maybe he knocked Flint out himself without magic? If so, he might be the first auror Draco actually could find himself to like.

"Well, let's get on with it." Draco said and Blaise, who stood closest, touched his wandtip to Flint's forehead and non-verbally revived him to consciousness.

Flint's eyes snapped open and he took a deep breath as if he'd been holding it for the past half an hour.

But before he even had a chance to blink twice Potter stepped forward and put him under the curse. "Imperio." He didn't shout it. He didn't say it with vehemence, just stern determination.

Instantly Flint's dark eyes glazed over and he got that empty look in his eyes that was the curse's characteristics. Draco had seen this curse been used too many times during the war but it was still eerie to see someone's personality to just cloud over, disappear. He thought that the curse was too similar to the dementors, both left only an empty shell of what was usually there. But Flint deserved it, they needed him, and unlike the dementor's kiss the imperius curse was reversible.

Potter wasted no time, but started to question Flint as soon as the spell had settled.

"What wards are there around the house?"

"I don't know." Flint answered in a monotone voice.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" Potter continued sounding angrier this time.

"She just said that she would make them allow me, she didn't say what kind of wards there were."

"Who's she?" Blaise cut in, wanting the verification.

Flint watched him then turned back to Potter for permission. "Answer him." Since it was Potter who cast the curse Flint only had to answer him.

"Astoria Greengrass." He answered Blaise who nodded in confirmation. They had never had any evidence that it was actually her, only speculations.

If Flint didn't know any of the wards, then they had to assume that there only were the wards that Potter detected. Those were the only ones they could order Flint to break, but if there were other, if just a single one more, then it would be their plan which would break.

This wasn't going to work. They needed another approach, something that wouldn't need them to get past the wards themselves. They needed to-

His thoughts were cut short by Potter who had seemed to reach the only workable solution.

"We need to draw her out," His voice was serious and after what seemed like an eternity he continued, locking his eyes on Draco.

"And we need you as bait."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So.. moving forward. What do you think? And just to be clear, I have nothing against pandas; they're cute, which I can't really say about Flint but they do look kind of stupid. **

**I have to admit that I posted a chapter of In the Halls of Hogwarts in between the updates for this story. I kind of broke my own promise, but the plotbunnys threatened to suffocate me, and being too young to die I gave in. Hopefully you guys don't mind, and will not hunt me down and do nastier things than to suffocate me with a pillow. I kind of like life and if you kill me then you won't know how this story will end… Mwohahahah!**


	43. Plans

**Plans**

* * *

><p>"Bait? You want to use him as bait to lure out a psychotic bitch?" Blaise said slowly, eyebrows touching the hairline, as to see if Potter understood what he just had said of if he'd finally lost his mind.<p>

In school they had often betted on when everybody else, namely the professors, would realise that Potter belonged in the loony. Each year the bet got higher and higher, with its peak in fifth year.

On a normal day, in a normal situation, Draco would have agreed with Blaise, but this was their last chance of getting Hermione out of there. At least if they were able to lure Astoria outside then she wouldn't be able hurt his girlfriend.

The thought of somebody hurting Hermione fuelled the rage inside him and made him adamant to reach her, the fastest way possible. And that happened to be the way Potter was suggesting. By using himself as bait, his Slytherin self-preservation be damned!

Before Potter could counter Blaise and start a brawl that they didn't have time with, Draco spoke up in Potter's defence.

"Blaise, if we do that, we can get her out today. I will do it." Draco said with a fierce determination in his voice. "You remember what was said in those letters, I won't stand by looking for another solution when we have one that can save her!

"But first, are there any more accomplices?" Draco asked Flint as he was reminded of all the hateful letters. All of them couldn't just be from the two of them, the way of writing didn't match. Neither did the two letters they had found the connection in.

"No." Flint said after Potters nod in encouragement.

"So you wrote all the letters?" Potter asked the follow-up question.

"No, I only wrote one." Flint continued to explain.

The three of them exchanged looks. He only wrote one? But they were at least sure two letters had been written by them.

"Do you know how many letters Astoria has written?"

"One, that I know of." Flint answered in the same monotone voice.

That meant that there were a bunch of people that held a grudge towards Hermione, they just hadn't acted yet like Astoria and Flint had. _That was a optimistic thought_, Draco thought sarcastically.

"You said that you had written one letter and Astoria another, you didn't write them together?" Blaise asked in confusion.

"No," Flint said after permission from Potter. "She wrote hers first before I met her again."

"When was this?"

"A couple of months ago, I bumped into her in Diagon Alley were we had coffee and I listened to her brilliant rant about how Mudbloods are a disgrace to our country and how they pollute our air with vermin."

"And let me guess," Draco said fisting his hand so hard that his knuckles turned white, he was not happy about Flint's explanation. "It was then you decided to write your letter."

It was Flint who'd written the last one, the one that was worse than the rest of them. He could kill this man right now!

"Why are you so against Hermione?" Potter asked in suspicion.

"She's a mudblood. But it's how far she's gotten in society and work that makes me dislike her most. She's a mudblood! She shouldn't be on top of the society latter, I, a pure-blood should, and she should be the scrap under our shoes! Not the other way around!"

"And that's what made you turn to Astoria to help rid Hermione of the earth?" Blaise scoffed, not seeing why he would do that.

"No I turned to Astoria because that way she might see me and if I worked actively, like writing letters, she might start to like me like I like her."

_Huh. That explains it. Flint's a lovesick puppy who follows a maniac around in hope that she might finally notice him. Pathetic._

"What now?" Draco asked Potter. How would he play bait to lure the hag out? He had to give the hag some credit though. They had severely underestimated her ability to manipulate others and coming up with a functional plan. Judging from their time at school Draco would never have thought that Astoria would be capable of pulling something like this off. She was probably running more on luck than anything else, which meant that it would eventually run out.

"We have to lure her outside the estate wards, so that she won't have the opportunity to further hurt Hermione. You won't be a direct bait, but we will send Flint in again, saying that he'd seen you here in town. Hopefully she'll be obsessed enough to leave Hermione and go after you, and when she crosses the wards we take her and you'll go inside and get Hermione." Potter explained, still turned around facing Flint giving him a speculating look.

"You think Astoria will be foolish enough to just leave Hermione and run towards Draco?" Blaise asked thinking that the plan might be a bit too simple. There were too many loose variables. What if Astoria didn't trust the story Flint would feed her? What if she wouldn't be as desperate and obsessed as they thought, and wouldn't care whether or not Draco was nearby.

Draco had to admit that it was a rather risky plan, but as he said earlier, he had the opportunity to save Hermione, and he was going to do it.

"I think she might be that obsessed, and that's why I think the plan will work." Potter said a bit more confidently.

"I think so too," Draco mused aloud. "She was obsessed enough to kidnap Hermione in the first place, then I think she's obsessed enough to walk right into our trap. As I said before, I'll do it."

"Flint," Potter began ordering after he got Draco's assent. "I want you to run and tell Astoria that you have spotted Malfoy in the village. You will act as though you spied on him for a time, and then hurried over to tell her the news. When she asks where you saw him you will tell her that you saw him head for the local pub, and then you'll go on about how you thought that she would like to know if he was so nearby and therefore rushed to tell her. Hopefully she will rush to see if Malfoy's still there, and then we will be able to intercept. While in the mean time Malfoy will be hidden near the wards and when she's gone you will show him where you keep Hermione."

"Wouldn't it be more efficient if it was said that Draco was there to see someone, like say Daphne? Imagine the jealousy if she found out Daphne were to meet Draco." Blaise suggested, trying to stabilise some of the loose variables in the plan.

"That's a good idea. Astoria has always been jealous of Daphne for being the smart one, so she most definitely rush to see if it's true, if not to break it up." Draco speculated, seeing the point Blaise was trying to make.

If they made it seem like he would meet up with her sister, it would certainly make her leave Hermione alone to see if it were the truth herself.

Nodding Potter turned to Flint once again and updated his directions. "You will tell Astoria that you saw Draco head to the pub where you'd seen Daphne enter a couple of minutes earlier, and that's when you decided to run and tell her. When she had left you will wait by the entrance for Malfoy and then you will show him where she's been kept. You do know where right?"

They had just assumed that he'd known the location, but as he didn't know something about the wards that might have been hoping for too much.

"Yes, I know." He answered in that creepy monotone voice. They needed to do something about that. Thankfully Potter seemed to notice it too and ordered him to act natural when he was around her, but to still follow his orders.

"Is everything clear?" He asked as a conclusion and at Flint's distinct nod he turned to the other men.

"Everything clear for you too? Jackson, send a patronus to the others and tell them to guard the perimeter. They need to keep Astoria outside the wards for as long as possible after Malfoy has entered. Any questions? No? Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry about the delay, had quite a hard time to come up with how they would use him as bait... not to smart of me. Thankfully with the help some friends we manage to create a picture of the situation with vegetables, where Astoria was a piece of salad which in the end I ate up, so I think it turned out okay in the end. **

**In the next chapter we will see Astoria and Hermie again and see how she will react to Flint's story.. Exiting or not? Why don't you tell me in a nice little review? ;)**


	44. Staying Strong

**Staying Strong **

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><p>"AAAARRRRG-" Hermione's scream ended abruptly as she started to cough up blood. That couldn't be a good sign...<p>

Astoria had in the early hours of the morning, or that was at least what Hermione thought as her sense of time had been severely scattered, decided to leave the cruciatus curse and started to use other physically harming curses. Curses that even with Hermione's vast knowledge hadn't heard of.

This last one had the effect that it was painfully squeezing the victim's intestines.

And painful it was.

"Have you had enough yet? You know, all you have to say is that you are willing to give Draco up and I'll be happy to end your pain." Astoria said with a sweet smile that made the whole situation even more morbid. How could anyone who could look so innocent be capable of torture?

Pulling up the remains of her Gryffindor courage she turned to face Astoria when her coughing had subdued, smirking, feeling blood drip from her mouth. She probably looked like shit but she wouldn't give Astoria the satisfaction to see how much she actually got to her. "Seeing as you've probably already killed my baby I don't think I'm ready to give up Draco anytime soon. I don't want to lose them both, you see.."

She meant what she said, Hermione really, really didn't want to lose them both.

"Too bad I'm not into sharing then, especially not with a mudblood like you!" Astoria said growing angrier with each word and raised her wand once again.

Hermione braced herself for the pain, clenching every muscle in her body but didn't close her eyes. No, she wouldn't let Astoria win. She would stand tall until the very end, even though she technically sat leaning against the dungeon wall, like a true Gryffindor.

Just as Astoria opened her mouth to shout out whatever gruesome curse she thought of next the door flung open revealing a panting Flint.

"What now?" Astoria snapped, clearly irritated by the interruption.

"I.. I saw.." He started between deep breaths, seemingly irritating Astoria further which was not such a good idea since her wand was still aimed and sparkling with power from the unfinished curse.

"Spit it out you pathetic shit!" She growled losing all ladylike manners in a heartbeat.

"I saw Malfoy in the village-" He managed to get out before Astoria cut him off with a high shrieking "WHAT?"

"I saw him enter the pub where I saw Daphne enter a couple of minutes earlier. I thought you'd like... to know..." His explanation wavered when he saw Astoria's expression turn even darker at the mention of her sister's name.

It was clear to Hermione that Flint was truly scared of the other witch despite the obvious adoration. He was a lovesick puppy with no backbone that made Hermione surprisingly agree with Astoria, he was pathetic.

But what was more surprising was his revelation. Why would Draco meet up with the older Greengrass sister? Her romantic heart had hoped for him banging down the younger Greengrass's door rescuing her, but at the same time her logical brain had voted against it. It would be too dangerous and he didn't know where she was anyway. It annoyed her to no end that she hadn't been able to leave a clue of some kind when she'd been kidnapped but then she had also only been able to see Flint, and he was not the real villain in this story.

But the question remained. What was he doing with Daphneand this close to Astoria nonetheless? Why did he meet up with her, was it because he somehow knew that this was Astoria's doing, and he wanted to gather information? That sounded like a possible explanation, because she knew that it wasn't anything more between the former Slytherins, not in the way Astoria seemed to think there was.

Her expression had grown eerily dark at the mention of Draco and Daphne together, at least this wasn't directed towards her, Hermione thought. But that didn't mean she could be on the receiving end of that wrath, you could never know with that mental bitch.

No, even though Hermione had only known the true Draco for some short time, she knew she loved him, and that her feelings were at least partly responded. That was enough for her to know that there was nothing betweenhim and the other Greengrass girl, he wouldn't do that after he found her missing. He wasn't that kind of a guy despite of what people thought.

"And they're still there?" Astoria's question brought Hermione back from her thoughts. The way she asked was short, sharp and full of underlying anger. It was clear that Astoria did not like the situation one bit.

"I... I don't know. I rushed back as soon as I saw them both inside the pub." He was now cowering near the entrance to her cell as Astoria had turned her wand on him. It looked like she was about to hex him but in the last second she turned down her wand and stomped her foot instead like a silly schoolgirl.

"Why do I have to do everything myself?" She questioned herself before she stomped to the entrance."Don't think I've forgotten about you mudblood, it just seems like I have to deal with something a little more... urgent," She explained melodramatically before snorting. "And it's not like you are going anywhere."

Then she turned around laughing and locked the heavy cell door, leaving Hermione battled and alone with her swirling thoughts.

* * *

><p>Hidden by the trees and bushes that were scattered around the outside of the Greengrass perimeters sat Draco patiently waiting. The sun was high enough to start its travel across the sky and judging from Draco's rumbling stomach, time for breakfast. He'd missed dinner last night and hadn't spared his hunger a thought during the night as he'd been too worried. He was still worried - no question about it - but he started to see the light in the end of the tunnel, lifting his anxiousness somewhat enough to let him feel his hunger creeping up on him.<p>

Hearing footsteps approaching he willed his stomach to not growl. It wouldn't do to have his stomach compromising the only plan they got, not to talk about humiliating.

"She thinks she just can take my man, like that? Huh? Well guess again Daphne! I'm not the little baby sister anymore who you can just push around! I've grown up and you are going down!" Astoria walked passed him talking to herself like a true maniac. It was quite unnerving to hear her talk about him like he was her possession of sorts. But he guessed that was what brought this whole situation on in the first place.

Watching her walk the road back towards the village he slowly, and as quietly as he could rose from his crunched position and walked to the wards where he stopped, still hidden by shadows though.

When she'd disappeared from his vision he turned to face the wards. It was now or never.

Taking a deep breath he tentatively stepped through the wards feeling the magic tickle his skin, nothing more. Letting out the breath he'd been holding he hurried to the entrance where he saw Flint lingering.

Reaching him they started to head through the estate in silence, the only thing heard was their hurried steps.

As they had assumed Flint lead him down towards the dungeons. It was cold and damp making him shiver. His heart clenched for Hermione thinking that she'd been spending the night down here. That couldn't be good for either her or the baby. They ran down a few steps into the even lower part of the dungeons until they stopped outside a large wooden door.

"Can you open it?" Draco asked seeing as it was locked, but Flint stood passive not moving a muscle.

_This_ was the reason why Draco had wanted to be the one who had cast the imperio, the sonofabitch wasn't listening to him as he didn't take order from anyone else but Potter!

"Stupefy!" He stunned Flint and felt momentarily better as he flew across the hall and hit the wall with a loud thud.

Then turning around to the door he tried first with a simple unlocking charm as he was afraid that if he blew the door of his hinges, like he wanted to, he might hurt Hermione. Luckily enough it worked, and proving that indeed Astoria's luck seemed to run out.

Pushing up the door slowly he was met by a sight that shook him to the core. There was blood everywhere around the lump body that sat battered leaning against the wall.

"Hermione?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Is it just me who sit around all day long watching the Olympics on the TV like a leech? The 100 meter final yeasterday! That race was just... wow! Talk about power, explosively, technique. The list can only go on and on! Long live Bolt and Blake, those two have are just amazing...**

**Ooo! And before I forget! What did you think of the opening ceremonies? I just loved Voldie and JK! Best opening ceremonies ever I think! London, you've done good! Beat that Rio if you can!**


	45. I Love You

**I Love You**

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><p>"Hermione?"<p>

Draco's voice nearly cracked at the sight of his girlfriend. She sat slumped against the wall, and it was clear that the wall was the only thing holding her upright. The floor was dotted in dark red with a large pool in the middle, and from the pool was a line connecting to the little smaller pool around her sitting body.

The blood traces made it clear that she'd been dragging herself from the middle of the room to the wall, and he couldn't eve fathom how much it would have hurt. Her normally curly hair was tangled and her clothes were tattered and dirty as well as her face. She had only been gone for 12 hours and look how bad she'd been hurt. He should have gotten here sooner, he should have, he should have...

"Draco? Is that really you?" Her voice was raspy and cracked in a few places. His vision started to get a little blurry and it got harder to focus on her.

"Yes, it's me. Merlin Hermione, I'm so sorry, so, so sorry!" He answered and rushed to kneel beside her. He wanted to hold her, pull her up in his lap, hug her and soothe her, but he didn't know how to? without hurting her.

A faint smile touched her too pale lips. "I hoped you'd come, but-" Her sentence was cut short by a coughing fit that ended in blood running down the corner of her mouth.

"I'm here now," He tried to say soothingly and as gently as he could rub her back, whilst inside he was fanatic. What had that psycho done to her? "Hang in there; I will get you to St Mungo's Hermione I promise. Where are you hurt?"

From the looks of it she was hurt all over, but he needed to know exactly where if he had to carry her. He didn't want to cause unnecessary pain.

"Ribs and head from physical pain. The coughs are from a curse of some sorts, I didn't recognise it. The cruciatus has made me weak but I don't think it causes physical harm."

"She's going to be brought to justice, Hermione, and I will personally see that she won't be walking out of Azkaban in this lifetime." He said, and he meant it. The sincerity was radiant from his eyes.

"Thank you, and thanks for coming for me." She responded, her brown eyes misty.

"I'll always come for you Hermione," He cupped her cheek gently. "I love you, and I guess this isn't the most romantic or best place to tell you that, but I do! It's awful that this had to happen for me to figure it out in time, but I'm foreignto this type of feeling and didn't recognize it earlier." His tears were now running down his cheeks like a sissy. He hadn't cried since sixth year, but the thought that he'd nearly lost her was too much.

The feeling of her cheek pressing down into his palm woke him up from his despair. "I love you too." She said softly and with a serenity that shone threw her whole being, making her the most beautiful woman in the world even in her tousled and beaten state.

"Come on, let's get you out of here. Can you walk or would you prefer me carrying you?"

"I'll try walking, I don't know how my ribs will manage being carried. Will you help me though?" She asked when she failed in standing up on her own.

Gently he placed his hands under her arms, helping her petite body up to standing position. "Okay?"

"That's a bit of an overstatement," She said wincing as she took her first step.

Taking her arm he placed it around his waist for her to hold on to before he placed his around her to help her walking. Her legs wobbled a few times but they made it to the cell door and out into the corridor.

"What happened to him?" She asked when she saw Flint's unconscious body slumped against the wall.

"We used him, but then he got in way." He shrugged his shoulders not feeling rather guilty about using him and then just dumping him.

"We?" she asked and managed to raise her eyebrow quizzically without wincing.

"Yeah, me, Blaise and Potter. I guess Potter will be mad though if I just leave him here to rot..." casting a levitating charm over Flint he made him hovering in front of them, leading the way like a butt-ugly figurehead.

Looking over at Hermione he saw her stare at him in disbelief. "Let's talk about it later, shall we?" he asked pleadingly, not feeling up to give her the long explanation and he really just wanted to get her to St Mungo's as fast as possible.

She nodded but glanced at him questioningly when they made their way through the corridor.

The stairs to the ground floor was the worst part, making them stop three times for Hermione to gather her breath and letting the pain subdue momentarily. He was speaking to her the whole time, saying words of encouragement.

"Almost there, just out the door and over the grounds, you can do it!" He said, trying desperately to keep his fear out of his voice. She was now breathing heavily and seemed to be dizzy from the blood loss.

Hurrying his steps he more carried her by her shoulders than letting her walk by herself. They had made it halfway through the grounds before meeting a not so welcomed sight.

"Ah Draco! Why don't you just drop the mudblood? She's deadweight!" Astoria said laughing at her own joke. "Your little act almost got me, but then I felt you passing through the wards and knew it had to be a fluke. Too bad the aurors don't know of all our secret passages right? I just slipped right under their noses, only to see you touching that piece of dirt!"

Putting Flint down he aimed his wand at the lunatic in front of him while at the same time shuffling the swaying girl behind him so that she wouldn't be in harm's way. Merlin knew she'd been hurt too many times already this night.

"That's enough Astoria! We will never be together and I never wanted to anyway! You should have given up a long time ago." Draco said firmly, she really needed to get it into her thick skull that they would never be together.

"But Drakie! That's the mudblood's fault, with her out of the way and you giving me a chance we can be happy together!" She wailed.

"Is that really what you think Astoria? Jeez! You are one crazy woman! I-"

"Crazy in a good way?" She asked in a sultry tone.

"No definitely not! I love Hermione, now let us through!"

Her lips formed a thin line and shook her head. "No, sorry love. Can't do that, you see... I thought that by eliminating the baby and make the mudblood see that she's not right for you, you would welcome me and start to love me like I love you. But I see now that the problem is far deeper than I originally thought, and I just have to start there.

"Ever heard of the Stockholm syndrome Draco? It's when a captive falls in love with the person who captivated him or her. Quite fitting right? Why don't we give it a try?" She ended her crazy speech with launching a nasty spell that Draco barely had time to deflect.

Draco had hoped that it wouldn't come to a duel, not for thinking he wouldn't be able to take her, but because he was afraid that Hermione would get caught in the crossfire. He needed to end it as soon as possible so he could take her to St Mungo's.

That first spell was the only one that had been a close call. It was evident who the best dueller was, and Draco could advance even with dragging a stumbling Hermione behind him. The lights from varying spells and curses lightened their faces and not once had Draco any problem with putting up his Protego. Astoria was another kettle of fish, she needed to duck and throw herself to her side so she wouldn't get hit when she didn't get up her Protego in time.

The duel hadn't been going on for more than ten minutes when Draco saw his opportunity to end it once and for all. Astoria had been forced to throw herself on the ground to escape his previous Stupefy, and was disoriented when she got to her feet.

Draco had no patience whatsoever because he could feel Hermione getting heavier and heavier, so before Astoria even stood up straight he sent a strong Reducto straight in her chest. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion; Astoria's head snapped up, seeing the spell flying her way her eyes widened knowing that there was no escape. The spell sent her flying up backwards, arms reaching for him, screaming a shrill, deafening scream.

The force from the spell actually sent her through the wards and into the arms of a waiting Blaise and Potter, who had probably been standing just outside the wards seeing the duel but not being able to do anything with the wards still in place.

Throwing Flint outside the wards with a spell he turned to his now nearly unconscious girlfriend. Lifting her up carefully he ran towards the wards, his heart beating loudly in his chest and apparated the moment he was outside to St Mungo's.

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><p><strong>AN: Du du duuuuuu...**


	46. The End is Always the Beginning of Somet

**The End is Always the Beginning of Something Else**

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><p>It was almost evening and the mediwitches in St Mungo's were living in fear. No one wanted to go near the waiting room that was occupied by one enraged war hero, one furious Slytherin and one livid blonde ex death eater. The tension in that room was thicker than thick, and if a healer was unfortunate enough to walk past he or she was attacked with questions that they most likely couldn't answer.<p>

The carpet in the room was showing scruff marks that wasn't there the day before by Draco's constant pacing. The couch was being squeezed to death by Potter's hands where he sat and Blaise had broken all the quills he could find in the room till little pieces.

When Draco had arrived at St Mungo's he'd thrust Hermione into the nearest healers arms and demanded that she'd got the best attention money could buy. He might have felt guilty about yelling at the poor guy if he could have thought about anything else than Hermione.

Thankfully another more experienced healer just happened to walk by and quickly read the situation before he'd ordered the shocked younger one holding Hermione into action. The next couple of minutes were chaotic. The experienced healer barked out orders and healers and mediwitches ran around like ants, some questioned Draco, others lay Hermione on a board, while others checked her vitals and then all of the sudden she was rolled away in a swam of healers.

Left behind was Draco standing in the middle of St Mungo's foyer, staring blankly at the door Hermione had disappeared through. A mediwitch had escorted him to the waiting room and it was during that walk he'd started to think clearly again. His questions had ruthlessly poured out of his mouth which most couldn't be answered by the witch. Once inside the waiting room had his frustration reached its breaking point by her inability to answer his questions. The mediwitch seemed to get that and had quickly left the room. That left him with the rest of the patiently waiting people in the room.

It was then he'd started to pace and silenced anyone who dared to speak with a look. Apparently they'd been so scared by those looks that after ten minutes he had the whole room to himself. That was when Blaise showed up.

He didn'tsay anything just walked past him and settled on a chair and started to pulverise the quill on the side table with his fingers.

He knew that Draco didn't want to be alone, but at the same time Blaise also knew that he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want soothing words and a pat on the shoulder. No that was not Draco, he didn't do pity, but the presence of another human being calmed made him feel like he wasn't completely alone, as alone as he'd been in sixth year, and that comforted him.

Potter arrived about an hour after Draco first got to St Mungo's, after dropping Astoria off at the Ministry in one of the cells they had there. She would stay there until her trial at the Wizengamot, and Draco was furious that he couldn't be the prosecutor. But as a professional he did see that he was too close to the case and couldn't be justice. Not that she deserved it though, but he guessed that that was just the attitude that made him unfit for that trial.

But his finger twitched at hurting that silly bint even more. He was glad that he got their little duel in the end, because that way he had at least had some revenge for what she'd done to Hermione. He didn't think that was nearly enough but Potter and his hero-complex would certainly not let him have another round.

Oh but his finger twitched so to hex her until obliviation, and that rage was now turned to the unknowing mediwiches.

The door opened and Draco was just about to lash out on another mediwich that couldn't tell him a damn thing when the older healer from hours before walked inside.

" , Mr. Potter, , I'm Healer Hayes and I am Miss Granger's standard healer and also the one who was in charge of the operation." He said as a way of greeting, and Draco felt a bit comforted in the fact that this was a healer who knew Hermione.

"How is she? Did she make it? Please tell me she made it! And the baby, please please!" He had no control over his words, and he didn't even cared he sounded like a sissy; he just wanted to know that she was all right. That they both were all right!

Contrary to all the other healers and mediwiches Healer Hayes was not intimidated by the questions and the three wizards that were looming around him. "Miss Granger's stable and we've managed to repair the damage on her intestines, her broken rib and the cut in her head. She will need to stay here a few days for observation."

It felt like an enormous rock had lifted from Draco's chest at hearing those words, she was okay. She would be fine. But as fast as that stone had lifted it came tumbling back again when he realised that Hayes hadn't mentioned the baby.

"As for the baby," Hayes continued. "It's rather peculiar. Regularly a foetus at this age would not have made it, but from what we could sense it has a strong magical ability."

What? What did he say? Both of them were all right?

Fortunately Potter seemed to be equally confused. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that both mother and child are okay and stable but we would like to keep them here for observation to see that it stays that way."

Both of them were fine, they were okay... "When can I see them?" Draco asked wanting nothing more than to see them.

"She's resting at an assigned room you may visit her, but she needs to rest and we gave her sleeping draught to ensure her that." Healer Hayes gave all three a pointed look saying that they would not under any circumstances awake her. "Follow me and I will show you to her room."

They did not need to be told twice.

"I will call Pansy and Mrs. Potter and tell them the news." Blaise said from doorway, not wanting to interrupt.

Draco nodded and gave his friend a smile of appreciation before hurrying to catch up to healer Hayes and Potter. They walked a short distance to her room but it felt like an eternity. When Hayes opened the door Draco felt his heart stop.

She looked so small, so fragile, and even though the healers had done their best she was still covered with black bruises. But she was all right and so was their baby. He felt his eyes start simmering again but out of relief this time. They both would be fine, but that didn't mean he would cry freely in front of Potter. One time was enough to last a lifetime.

He pushed past Hayes and Potter and walked towards her bed until he stood right next to her. Bending down he traced his knuckle across her cheek, he truly loved her. He pulled a chair down next to her and took her hand in his. He wasn't going to leave before she woke up.

Draco felt the eyes from the two wizards on his back, but he ignored them. He just wanted some alone time with her, even though she wasn't awake yet. After a few minutes he felt their presence go away and he was left alone with his unconscious girlfriend.

* * *

><p>Sun shone through a window and hit Hermione in the eye waking her up. She stretched her stiff limbs that felt like they had been in the same position for Merlin knows how long. Her left arm was stiffer than the rest because she found out that she couldn't quite move it.<p>

Cracking an eye open and being momentarily blind from the brightness she saw a blonde head leaning against her bed while clutching her hand for dear life. The sight made the corner of her lips turn up in a smile even though it made her remember where she was and why she was there. He looked truly peaceful when he slept.

She lifted her other hand with some effort and reached for his hair, it was so soft it was like a waterfall when it fell through her fingers. The action made Draco stir and he lifted a sleep-deprived eye towards her that widened when he saw that she was up.

"Hermione, you're awake." He said his voice husky witch sleep.

"Yeah." She answered at his statement though it was quite obvious, now was not the time to be sarcastic even though it was so much fun.

She moved her hand from his hand to her stomach, the question shining in her eyes. She couldn't ask out loud because she was certain that her voice would break but she needed to know.

Draco smiled and lifted his own hand and placed it on top of hers. "It's okay, our baby's fine."

Tears that had started to run down her cheeks in dread without her knowing turned into happy tears. She couldn't understand how with how Astoria had tortured her but she was ecstatic. "How?" She managed to choke up between sobs.

"Hayes said something about surprisingly strong magical ability when you came out of the surgery yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, you needed to sleep and rest so you have slept for over twenty-four hours. Anyway, he has since done some tests on your blood and researched. He said that it was quite similar to how Potter survived the killing curse... the first time... You were trying to save the baby and didn't care what it would cost you, that awaked the foetus magical ability much earlier than supposed to and our combination of genes made sure it was strong. So he managed to protect himself from the worst blows that would harm him." Draco finished smiling brightly and appeared too immensely proud already of their unborn baby.

"He?" She asked an amused smile on her lips and an eyebrow raised. She'd noticed that he'd started to refer the baby as a 'he', but she wasn't sure it had developed any sex yet what so ever – didn't those things come a bit later? That made it even more incredible about the magical ability thing. But the baby was hers and Draco's so she guessed anything was possible.

"Yes, I'm certain it's a he, I feel it in my bones!"

She shook her head at his antics, ignoring the slight headache, but smiled.

"I'm sorry about how I acted when you told me-" He said sobering up with a serious expression.

"Draco-" She tried to intervene to say it was okay, he was here now and that's all that matters.

"No, I have to say it! I'm, truly sorry about it. I freaked out, didn't think I could be a father, I mean.. I'm not so good with kids. It's not that I don't like them, I do – well not the snotty, annoying ones," At this Hermione rolled her eyes but let him continue. "But they don't like me, and what if our kid doesn't like me?"

Squeezing his hand she looked him into the eyes and said sincerely; "Draco, I know without a doubt that you'll be a wonderful father and that out kid, girl or boy, will love and adore you just as I do."

The sad look in his eyes disappeared and was replaced with the twinkle that always accompanied his true smile. She only hoped that the kid inherited that twinkle because it truly made her heart melt. They would be all right and have a beautiful family and future life, she was certain of it. Everything would be all right as long as they were together.

Leaning forward she kissed him lovingly while their hands still rested on her stomach that promised them a wonderful future together.

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><p><strong>AN: So... that was the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue so it's not quite over yet! It got a bit longer than usual but can't we agree on that it made up for the long wait? Every time I sat down to write this chapter I got all sad because I knew this was the end, so I put it off. But well here it is, hoped you enjoyed it!**


	47. The Epilogue

**The Epilogue**

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><p>"Daddy! Daddyyy!" Nova Malfoy called sweetly as she almost reached her father's study. She'd put her hair up in pigtails and had made herself look as small as possible so she would look like Daddy's little girl once again. Sure, she was still daddy's little girl, according to him age wouldn't change that, but being fifteen years old she didn't really look like it anymore.<p>

Whenever she wanted something from her father she did this and had him wrapped around her little finger in a heartbeat. And right now she wanted something allright!

She shouldn't really be at home but James Potter had had the insolence to actively break apart her and her date that same day at Hogsmeade weekend. The brat had pulled her and Nicolas Nott apart from a very satisfying snogging session! And that wasn't all! He had then started yelling at her and humiliated her in public!

And if it was one thing Nova shared with her father, it was their hatred for public humiliation. A Malfoy should never be humiliated like that!

And then her own brother wouldn't help her with her revenge! They usually helped each other with the pranks that got more elaborate the older they got. But Alioth refused this time, saying that he didn't want to meddle with younger year's love affairs and that she was on her own. He was only a year older and it wasn't like he didn't date girls from her year. It made Nova sick hearing gossip about how gorgeous her brother was with his curly blond hair and grey eyes, could they be more superficial? But she guessed that that feeling was Alioth's true reason as well, he didn't like seeing his "baby" sister snogging.

She knew how he'd protected her when she was younger, but around last year she'd had enough. It was fine when she was younger and didn't care for boys, but it was really hard to find a nice lad with her brother scaring away all the candidates. Even her looks couldn't lure a guy to go out with her with him always around. She was a nice mixture of both her mum and dad. She had long, curly, golden blonde hair and her eyes though in the shape of her mums had the Malfoy grey colour, just like her brother. But where Alioth had taken after their father in his tall built she'd taken over her mum's petite form, making her look more fragile than she really was.

She'd finally confronted Alioth last year saying that she didn't want to end up like a crazy cat lady when she was old without ever had a relationship. Of course that wasn't all she did that made him to finally back off. It involved a rather large bit of blackmailing, Slytherin style.

Her father had been ecstatic when both his children was sorted into Slytherin, running around screaming 'Take that you Gryffindorks; my children will beat your ass every year!' It had ended with mum stunning him unconscious and leaving him there for a whole 24 hours before he subdued.

"Nova?" Came her father's surprised response as she entered his study. Her face broke into a smile when she saw him and she didn't have to play giddy. She hadn't seen him since the school started and she'd missed both him and her mum, but that wasn't something you could admit in the Slytherin common room. She walked into his outstretched arms and was engulfed in his warm embrace. It smelled like him and she felt at once calm and at home.

"Why aren't you at school young lady?" He asked as he ended the hug and held her at arms range to get a good look at her. "Does your mother know that you're here?" he continued with a raised eyebrow when she didn't answer right away.

Nova locked down sheepishly, her mother took their studies very seriously and wouldn't like Nova to just pop back home without permission. Both Nova and Alioth had inherited their mother's brains but they weren't fanatic in their studies like they had been told she was, so her grades weren't really in danger even though the mid-terms were closing quickly.

"I just needed your help with a... thing." She just remembered that she had to twist the truth about the incident a little or her father would be as inclined to help her as Alioth. And he would probably want to lock her up in her room or something and never let her out. He was a bit crazy like that, but it was a part of his charm.

She would just direct the story so JP's actions would look even worse and she would have her father help. He never needed much to go on if it meant to play a prank on a Potter.

"You need to help me get back at JP for humiliating me in public, and it need to be something big."

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><p>Standing outside Draco's study was Hermione listening in on her husband and daughter's conversation. Living with a Slytherin for the past seventeen years had marked its tracks but she didn't regret a second of it.<p>

It felt like the years had flown by and that it was only yesterday she'd woken up in the hospital after that awful incident only to have Draco proposing to her without a ring in his hand.

According to him he'd gotten this sort of epiphany whilst kissing her and knowing in his heart that he couldn't bear it if she disappeared like that again and therefore he'd wanted to bind her to him for the rest of their lives. She didn't care how sappy it had sounded; she couldn't even tease him about it, because she felt and wanted the exact same thing, plus she had a secret weakness spot for sappy romantic actions.

Looking down at her ring now, a white gold band with a large cluster of small diamonds and emeralds sitting haphazardly – a Black family heirloom, she recalled the birth of their son and how smug Draco had got at guessing it right. She rolled her eyes at the memory, the bugger had quite a large ego sometimes that needed constant deflating or it would explode.

She recalled the birth of their daughter that had happened roughly a year later, that was now sitting discussing revenge on a certain Potter with her much too enthusiastic father. Nova had become Draco's pride and joy from the moment she was born, always protecting her from danger like hugs from the opposite gender.

Alioth and Draco seemed to have this kind of pact at protecting her from prying boys, and though Hermione thought it was kind of sweet she also understood that it drove Nova crazy sometimes.

But her daughter also knew that it could be useful in some situations where it could benefit her, ever the Slytherin. Hermione wasn't against them being put in Slytherin, both her children had too much of their father in them to change that, but she'd made sure to raise them well and teaching them moral and where to draw certain lines. She had full confidence in her children and never had they disappointed her. Though she didn't wholeheartedly agree with all the pranks they did, she let them as long as they knew where the line was.

But right now she felt like Nova hadn't told her father the whole situation. In later years both she and Alioth hadn't contacted their father about help, much to his dismay, and Hermione thought it was because they'd started to work together. Her children were clever and she guessed that it was because of that that they'd yet to receive a note from the headmistress about their antics.

Why Nova didn't seek her brother's help was what intrigued Hermione right now. There had to be a reason why he wouldn't take time to help his sister. Maybe he didn't agree with why they would revenge poor James. Alioth maybe thought that James hadn't done anything wrong and shouldn't be punished for his actions. But why? What didn't Nova tell Draco?

All this questions started to give her a slight headache and Hermione decided to let it be for now. The truth would come out in the end, it always did.

She would have a cup of tea and then head out for the travel agency. She had thought that she would surprise her family and book a trip to Puerto Rico over the Christmas holidays. After all, her last trip there had resulted in a very pleasant vacation.

The End

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><p><strong>AN: This is so sad! It's over! I've worked with this for little more than six months, and now it's over! Sorry about the delay but school started and I got the classic back-to-school depression. On a brighter note this is my last year, which means that next year I'll be kicked out in the real world which scares me a bit to be honest. **

**Anyway I'm babbling, I just don't want this to end... I hoped you liked Alioth and Nova, imagine them causing terror Malfoy-style in Hogwarts. *sighing in bliss***

**Special thanks to Vixcie22 ThreeUnicorns for betaing and endless amount of advice, and thanks to Paul for stepping in when needed. You girls are the best this story owes you so much! And thanks you, my lovely readers! This story would be absolutely nothing without you! **

**Well this is my goodbye and if you feel like it you can check out my other story which will be updated much more often now that I've finished this one. **

**Hugs and kisses**

**~ Ellinor**


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